The girls were all waiting when I put on my clothes and walked to the living hall. They were all wearing serious expressions on their faces.
"What"s wrong? Are you girls deciding what to have for supper?" I asked.
He Yi shook her head. "Right now there"s something more serious than that. The super cities will be unlocked tomorrow, but we still haven"t decided which one to settle ourselves in."
I pondered for a moment before asking, "I would like to hear about your thoughts first."
Murong Mingyue took a seat and turned her notebook around so I could read it. "Here. China has three tier 1 cities, namely Sky City, Wind City and Vanished G.o.d City. All three cities are set at the center of Heavenblessed Continent in a triangular formation, and they are surrounded by powerful enemies from every direction. Choosing the right city is very important because it"ll decide how we develop our guild in the future."
He Yi nodded. "Also, we need to post a thread at the guild channel of the forums after we make our choice. Otherwise, our guild members may travel to the wrong city."
I stared at the screen for a moment and weighed the pros and cons. Finally, I said, "Sky City is the closest city to Floating Ice City, and it"s quite close to the newly established Violet Empire as well. In my opinion, we should settle in Sky City. That is the best place to grow our power."
"Is that your final decision?" He Yi asked with a smile.
I said, "Should we check with Xu Yang, Gui Guzi and the rest first?"
Murong Mingyue shook her head. "No, it"s fine. They already called me and said that they"ll leave all the decision-making to Eve and you. All they want to be responsible for is the part where they attack and kill our enemies."
"Okay then, Sky City it is!"
"Mn!"
He Yi plopped her b.u.t.t next to me and clicked the link to the guild channel. As expected, plenty of guild leaders were already making their announcements—
Candlelight Shadow: Candle Dragon will be marching into Wind City, and anyone who is brave and courageous is invited to join us! Candle Dragon will become the protector G.o.d of the northern gate to China!
Indigo Collar: Peach Garden will be marching into Wind City, and all Chinese heroes are invited to join us. We don"t have any lofty goals, but we swear to defend the bond between brothers to the last! If one of us gets harmed, then all of us will respond!
Luo River G.o.d of the Capital. Purple Lily will be advancing into Wind City. Anyone who wants to kick Candle Dragon"s a.s.s is welcomed to join our guild!
Roaming Dragon: Mad Dragon will be advancing into Sky City, and anyone who is ambitious is invited to join us! Our motto is: "There is no strongest, only the stronger!"
……
"f.u.c.k!" I swore.
The entire forums were filled with advertising threads. What a spicy situation this was. I couldn"t wait to find out the kind of battle that would be waged between all the players of China when the time comes.
"Luo River G.o.d of the Capital is seriously obsessed…" Murong Mingyue sighed. "She must hate Candlelight Shadow to follow him to Wind City even though it isn"t the best possible choice she could make. Also, I"m surprised that Peach Garden would choose to enter Wind City. Tsk tsk, it"s going to be really lively over there…"
He Yi giggled. "That"s true, but not as much as Sky City is going to be. Look here, Miss Murong. Sky City is where all the truly powerful guilds are gathered. Nearly 20 out of the Top 50 guilds have chosen to move into Sky City besides us, and our old enemies such as Mad Dragon and Flower Room will be here as well. Now this is what we call real compet.i.tion."
Beiming Xue stuck out her tongue and joked, "Say, we"re pretty famous now, aren"t we? Do you think these guilds will gang up on us?"
He Yi nodded seriously. "That is a possibility…"
The realization had struck me as well. There was the saying "the shot hits the bird that pokes its head out", and we were undoubtedly that bird right now. We couldn"t even keep a low profile because we had a ton of famous players such as Gui Guzi, Murong Mingyue, Chaos Moon, Moonlight Stone, Xu Yang and He Yi in our guild, and that was without accounting for existing enemies such as Mad Dragon and Flower Room. Who knows if they would choose to kick us while we were down, or incite other guilds to attack us?
Murong Mingyue said calmly, "I suppose it"s wise to find a powerful and trustworthy ally sooner than later…"
Beiming Xue and He Yi immediately looked at me.
"Why are you all staring at me like that?"
Beiming Xue smiled. "Big bro, you should contact Beauty Lin and check with her which tier 1 city Snowy Cathaya is moving to. If possible, well, you know…"
I gulped. "f.u.c.k, why do I always get landed with this?"
"That"s because you"re closer to her than any of us!"
"f.u.c.k…"
……
Given no choice, I pulled out my phone and tried to call Lin Yixin, but the device rang before I had even punched in the first number. Speak of the devil!
"Hi, Beauty Yi! A good night to you!" I greeted her with a smile.
She replied, "Well, I"m starving and waiting for my instant noodles to be ready. Anyway, I want to check with you about something."
"Sure. What is it?"
"Which city is Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls going to move in? Candle Dragon, Purple Lily, and Peach Garden are all going to Wind City. Do you have a specific plan in mind?"
"Forget them. They can fight to the death for all I care!" I smiled again. "What is your choice?"
"Sky City. And you?"
"That"s where we"re going too!"
Lin Yixin immediately broke into a smile. "In that case, I guess there"s nothing else to say. Sky City will be ours, won"t it?"
"It will!"
"Well, good night…"
"Oh come on, don"t hang up yet! Let"s chat a little longer, alright?"
"Sure, but the fee will be 10 RMB for the first minute, and 0.05 RMB per second after that!"
"Good night Yiyi!"
I hung up immediately, drawing disdainful gazes from He Yi, Murong Mingyue and Beiming alike.
……
"Anyway, let"s get back to supper. Where are we eating? I"m so hungry I could die!" I rubbed my belly while saying this.
Murong Mingyue got up and replied, "Everywhere except the food stalls are still open, and it"s not safe to head out this late. How would you like some home-cooked noodles with veggies and minced pork instead?"
Beggars can"t be choosers, so everyone nodded in agreement. We were blessed that someone in the Frost Cloud workshop knew how to cook noodles!
Some time later, everyone got a bowl of noodles with vegetables. There was no minced pork in the fridge, so everyone got an egg as a replacement. After devouring the entire contents of our bowls, we rubbed our bellies and got ready for bed.
……
I lay on my bed and waited for sleep to overcome me. It was past 2 am in the morning, and a thunderstorm was rumbling outside. The weather would probably turn even colder after the autumn rain was done. Things were blazing hot inside Heavenblessed however. Once the three super cities were open, a new wave of grinding, PvP and war would overcome the server of China!
I closed my eyes and slowly entered the dream world.
In my dreams, I was wearing the same high-grade armor and wielding the Purgatory Sword. The difference was that the cyan-colored battle wolf next to me, the Sky Obsidian Greedy Wolf, was in its mature form. It was about one meter tall, and it looked deadly and imposing. A single swipe of its claws killed at least seven to eight warriors with ease, and among its victims were Roaming Dragon and Li Le!
……
"Phew!"
It was already morning when I woke up with a start. I heard Murong Mingyue"s voice from outside the door. "Eve, do we really need to get up this early? It"s only 10 am in the morning! I want to sleep for another 10 hours…"
He Yi: "Yeah, no. Get up, it"s almost time to head to Sky City. And don"t forget to wake up Lu Chen as well!"
"Why am I always the one to wake him up…"
"You don"t want to? It"s fine, I"m sure Beiming Xue will be happy to replace you!"
"Noooo, I wanna~~"
I was already opening the door when Murong Mingyue finally mustered the energy to knock. As a result, her hand hit my face, and she was slumping against me while still in her pajamas! Her eyes were still shut firmly, and it looked like she was planning to lean on the door while she waited for me to open it. Instead, she leaned on me.
Her enormous b.r.e.a.s.t.s pressed against my chest, and there weren"t nearly enough layers of fabric in between to insulate the sensation. But I was unfl.u.s.tered because it was Murong Mingyue. Hugging her waist a little, I said, "Sis, you should sleep a little more if you"re that tired. I mean, just look at yourself."
Murong Mingyue looked at me and complained, "I know right? Eve is such a strict boss. Anyway, good to see that you"re awake, and let"s go. After we have lunch, it"s time to set off to Sky City! Eve said that there are shops that players can buy in Sky City, but we don"t know what the buying conditions are yet. We"ll just have to see for ourselves after we enter the city."
"Yeah!"
We ate lunch at the restaurant on the ground floor and returned to our apartment completely refreshed. Then, we waited patiently for the servers to open!
Doo doo…
I received a sudden call from Gui Guzi. I pressed the answer b.u.t.ton and—
"Boss!"
"What is it?"
"There"s still half an hour before the servers open, right? A guild called Warsky is calling us out on the forums! You should check it out immediately!"
"Oh?! I"ll do it right away!"
"Yeah!"
……
I hung up the call and walked to the living room. He Yi and Murong Mingyue were enjoying their afternoon tea. Sitting down next to He Yi, I turned on the notebook and clicked the guild channel again. This time, I saw a red highlighted thread at the top of the page posted by someone called "Warsky”. According to the latest information, he was a Level 85 warrior. The thread t.i.tle was: Warsky Alliance will be marching into Sky City. I, Warsky, and the tens of thousands of warriors behind me hereby issue a challenge to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls!
Beneath the t.i.tle was a small pa.s.sage of text. "Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls have been making waves at Floating Ice City for a long time, and their CGL Hall of Famer even managed to fight Candlelight Shadow to a draw without a pet of his own during the Reestablishment of the Violet Empire. This is the kind of man who is worthy to be my opponent. I am very glad to learn that Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls is entering Sky City, and I dearly wish to meet you all on the battlefield as equals!"
……
"Motherf.u.c.ker!" I clenched my fists and swore under my breath.
Unlike me, He Yi looked a bit confused. "Do you know this "Warsky", Falling Dust?"
"Yeah!" I nodded. "The Warsky Alliance is the fourth strongest guild in the Guild Ranking of China, but they are not to be underestimated. They had concealed a great portion of their strength, but I estimate them to be as strong as G.o.ds of Destruction, if not stronger. I can"t believe this b.a.s.t.a.r.d is planning to use us as their stepping stone!"
"Hehe…" He Yi giggled. "We"re not going to let him have his way, are we?"
I returned her smile and stared at the Warsky emblem on the screen. "If Warsky Alliance must challenge us at Sky City, then it is only right that we oblige them and turn it into their Jiuli Mountain or Valley of the Fallen Phoenix!"
1. Ancient battlefields of death