"The higher ups from Mu Clan have all moved out. Is there going to be a major operation?"
"Duh. In another forty-eight hours, the Emperor's Announcement event will officially end. We should be more serious with the final battle."
But there were some people who still found this strange.
"There's no longer anything much to look forward to for the Emperor's Announcement event, right? We've already collected most of the points, and we've also seen the giants from the Mongolian army. I don't think there's a need for such a large mobilization of the higher ups for the final battle. I'm thinking that it's related to the retreat after the event."
"Retreat?"
The person's words alerted everyone of what was to come.
The people in the area had looks of realization dawn on their faces.
Over this period of time, they had indeed been blinded by the glory of the four sects lording over the plains.
Class One Hall had been dominant over the plains for a period of time, but after that, one hundred thousand of their elites were chased out of the plains by twenty thousand elites from the four sects.
Over the past month, they did not manage to do anything in the event!
Class One Hall's pride was stomped to the ground.
It might appear that Class One Hall was in a precarious situation.
But while the four sects enjoyed endless glory, there were already a few people who sensed impending danger.
No matter what, the north was still in Class One Hall's absolute control.
Once the event ended, all twenty thousand or so people will have to leave the plains, and when they did, they will definitely have to move through thousands of miles, and that entire stretch of land was Class One Hall's territory.
This path was not easy to tread!
If a cornered beast will fight back when it was desperate, then it was even more so the case for Class One Hall, who had a few hundred thousand soldiers equipped with the best equipment.
Many people instantly felt that they had gained their answers.
Those twenty thousand or people will lose the protection provided to them by their military titles, and the limitations placed on others because of those military titles will be gone as well. They will also lose their cavaliers.
If they wanted to leave the north safely right under Class One Hall's noses, they will indeed need to do a lot of preparation beforehand.
*****
The door to the base opened.
The person who opened the door was a man Rascal and Puffy were not familiar with and had never seen before. But he exuded a cold presence that made him seem like a dangerous machine, and it caused the duo to instantly be stunned at the door.
Rascal immediately yanked the back of Puffy's collar.
"I'm sorry. We went to the wrong apartment."
He then turned his head around and looked at the number on the wall, and he looked even more lost.
The duo stood facing the wall, not knowing what to do.
After all, the pressure Silver Wolf gave others was too great.
Then, the person standing at the entrance suddenly said, "I'm Silver Wolf. Come in."
"Silver Wolf?"
Rascal and Puffy immediately looked at each other at a loss.
Then, they had strange but delighted expressions appear on their faces. They could believe their own eyes as they stared at Silver Wolf walking into the apartment, and they quickly followed him.
"You're the one constantly wearing the mask?"
Silver Wolf said nothing.
*****
"Hey, guess who the silent man over there is."
"You don't know, right?"
Rascal and Puffy never managed to make Silver Wolf say anything in return, and instead, they just made themselves be caught in an incredibly awkward situation.
Then, when Rampaging Dragon, and the Three Lonely Wolves dropped by, some degree of liveliness finally returned to the apartment, and they quietly dragged the newcomers to their side.
"Silver Wolf, hi! I'm Rampaging Dragon."
Rampaging Dragon ignored Rascal and Puffy's flabbergasted expressions, walked straight into the apartment, and greeted Silver Wolf.
Silver Wolf finally had his icy facade crack, and he could not help but grin.
"Sit down. I was just teasing you just now. Happy will come out soon."
Phoenix Dances and the rest dropped by one after another.
The group of people squeezed into the not too spacious hall, and Xu Xin as well as Xu Yao naturally went to brew tea.
Some of the people surrounded Silver Wolf and asked him all sorts of questions.
Since they were all from Mu Clan, everyone soon mingled with each other and started chatting happily.
The topic soon turned from why Silver Wolf appeared in this place to why Happy called for everyone to gather here.
Due to Silver Wolf's appearance, some of the people keenly noticed that this gathering might not be as simple as they thought it would be.
Chapter 888 - Dream Clouds’ Ambush Plan
Just when the group of Mu Clan higher ups from the University of South China were gathered together, the twenty thousand or so people from the four sects gathered together under the night sky in the game.
Their one hundred thousand cavaliers isolated a large part of the area, and no one else was allowed to enter.
There was a small empty space isolated at the center of the four sects.
Sitting there were Mu Clan's Happy, Thunderous Battle, Little North, Momo, Chivalry Sect's Wind Void, Lin Xiao, Red Dust, and Wind Assault Tower's Phantasmal Shadow, Wu Kuo.
Wind and Rain Alliance's Night Rain Follows Wind brought his two vice alliance masters with him, and they were the last to arrive because they had been carrying out quests at the back of the line. Before they even sat down, they already noticed the stern expressions and the solemn as well as grave atmosphere among the few people.
"Night Rain, you're here. Happy, now that the people in charge of the four sects have arrived, you can tell us why you asked us to gather here, right?" Lin Xiao asked with great urgency.
In truth, he had long since lost his patience from asking that question, but he still held back.
When Happy gathered everyone together, he never said the reason for the gathering. He just kept receiving and sending out messenger pigeons.
Happy had never gathered everyone together with such a stern and serious manner. But no matter how dumb a person was, when he or she thought about how abnormal Happy acted, they will be able to guess more or less certain things at that moment.
Happy will definitely not have called everyone here for something as simple as to drink tea and chat.
And just as Lin Xiao expected, when Happy spoke, he seized the hearts of all the ten people at the center.
"I asked all of you here today because something major happened! You should already know about the International Influential Rank of the Strong."
Silence fell among them.
Some of them were stunned, some came to a realization, but most of them were surprised.
"It came from an American player who calls himself the Prophet in the game. He's prepared to create an International Influential Rank of the Strong and an International Great People Rank. I didn't expect that aside from China, there will be quite a number of amazing players from other countries as well. This is indeed something major." Lin Xiao stared at Happy's calm side profile. "But this shouldn't be great enough to make us uneasy…"
When he said this, everyone put on expressions that said that they agreed with him.
But still, no one showed any sign of impatience. They were certain that Happy will not do something without a goal. He must definitely have summoned them here for more important matters.
Phantasmal Shadow fixed her beautiful eyes on Happy's face, and she said nothing.
She was also waiting.
Even though she had already guessed the reason why Happy
invited the four sects together to discuss this matter and even though she predicted that this meeting will definitely come at the moment the Emperor's Announcement event came to an end, before Happy made his decision, she cannot be absolutely sure.
To her, Happy was too much of an abnormality!
"Let's set aside the Prophet and the International Influential Rank of the Strong and not talk about them for the moment.
"Let's talk about our current situation. The event is about to come to an end, and the protection provided by the military rank system will soon disappear as well. Everyone, do you have a plan to get out of the north back to your bases safely?"
No one said anything.
After Happy finished speaking, the people looked at each other at a loss.
"With Class One Hall's current strength, they should not dare to fight against our sects anymore. Isn't Dream Clouds afraid of us working together and completely destroying Class One Hall?" Red Dust asked in puzzlement.
Night Rain Follows Wind, Lin Xiao, and the rest nodded.
Even though the twenty thousand people from the four sects might be completely swallowed by Class One Hall, Dream Clouds should know that once war broke out between them and the four sects worked together, Class One Hall will not be able to withstand the flames of war burning at them!
When he heard this, Happy smiled. "If I faced this question more than twenty days ago, I'd be certain that Dream Clouds will not have the courage to cause trouble, but now, Dream Clouds' intentions is already revealed when she ordered one hundred thousand Class One Hall members to attack us. Right now, she's no longer worried about us working together. She has, in fact, certain that our sects will definitely wage war against her once the Emperor's Announcement event is over, and she is sure that we already have an agreement between us."
When Happy worded things this way, the people pondered over his words, and they, too, thought that it was logical.
Indeed, Class One Hall had long since become complete enemies against the four sects.
There was no longer any possibility for both sides to coexist harmoniously.
Seizing all chances of beating down the enemy and destroying them was a way to protect herself and her hall. This was indeed a way to survival.
Silence.
When Happy saw the group becoming quiet, he brought out two letters from his Universe Bag.
"Everyone, do you know what Class One Hall has been doing over the period of time they laid low?"
"What's wrong?"
Red Dust and Wind Void leaned in from the sides, and when they read the contents in the letter, their expressions changed drastically.
"That woman has the heart of a snake!"
"What's wrong?"
Night Rain Follows Wind, Phantasmal Shadow, and the others did not know the contents of the letter, and they felt as curious as a cat.
"This is something I asked Wandering Know-it-all help me check," Happy said with a solemn tone, "Ever since they suffered a setback at the plains, Dream Clouds is certain that our sects are prepared to work together to destroy Class One Hall, and she has been making a lot of arrangements. Over this period of time, she contacted a lot of foreign elites, and among them are America's Dragon Sect, Japan's Three Dragons Guild, Korea's Tristar Sword Sect, Persia's Eight Heavenly Dragons, Life and Death Fist Asura, who is ranked at the fifth on the International Great People Rank, along with the third on that same rank, Snake King Gupta."
No one said nothing.
Later on, Happy even mentioned a lot of the names belonging to foreign factions of power. There were so many of them that they caused the leaders of the three sects suck in sharp breaths, look at each other, and cry out in surprise.
"Just what is Dream Clouds thinking about?!"
"Dragon Sect has been eyeing the resources in China with hunger, and they have been restless since a long time ago. Three Dragons Guild and Tristar Sword Sect failed in their plot and went back to their country. Is she planning to bring back all these foreign factions of power to serve as her backup?"
"I don't think they're going to be necessarily backup," Happy said in a thought provoking tone, "Dragon Sect is still very strong. Even though they suffered quite a lot of losses last time, one month has passed since then, and they should have recovered. Besides, we have been busy doing quests over the past month, and the progress of our training has clearly fallen back."
"Happy, are you saying that they will actually still dare to enter the plains?"
Happy said, "It's not impossible. Dream Clouds knows very well that with Class One Hall's current strength, it's impossible for her to fight against us anymore. That's why she intends to use foreign powers to throw the Chinese server into chaos so that we won't have time to bother about her."
Once he finished speaking, Phantasmal Shadow continued with a solemn expression, "But how did she get into contact with these people?"
Perhaps Phantasmal Shadow was the only person who had the greatest knowledge about what sort of situation the Chinese server will be in after the diverse and complicated foreign factions of power entered, and she also knew how harmful it will be for them. The advantage the four sects had was not very great. Once foreign powers came in and interfered with them, there was a great chance that Class One Hall will get the chance to get themselves back on their feet.
"Look at this." Happy handed over his second letter.
"It's actually related to him?"
"I didn't expect this as well… Divination requires the player to pay quite the high price. This is something Wandering Know-it-all told me. His Universe Secrets Inkstone can somewhat allow him to read the information of all the elites in China, but when it comes to the entire world, if the diviner doesn't have quite the fortune acc.u.mulated over generations in a family and a whole load of resources, it's impossible for it to work. This is something that Wandering Know-it-all only managed to know after two days.
"Dream Clouds already contacted the Prophet before the International Influential Rank of the Strong was uploaded."
"Since Dream Clouds has already made her plans, let's not dilly-dally anymore. Before she can begin causing trouble all over the Chinese server, we have to destroy her." Lin Xiao swung his arm. "What say you?"
Happy exchanged a glance with the other ten people and nodded.
Chapter 889 - Choice, Giving Up
At the moment Happy came out of his bedroom, he immediately sensed the incredibly solemn atmosphere in the living room. Right when he opened his door, more than forty pairs of eyes went straight to him and were fixated on his face. It was as if their eyes were spotlights.
"The host finally decided to show up." Chen Fan stroked his c.h.e.s.t in an exaggerated manner and exhaled fiercely. "Happy, hurry up and tell us what's going on today. This group of people all have such dark thoughts, and they've been making wild guesses. Rascal even said that you intend to work with Silver Wolf and kidnap all the elites in Mu Clan."
"I did not say that." NotaRascal glared at him. He felt wronged.
Happy moved out completely from his bedroom and arrived next to Xu Xin. He looked over Xu Yao and naturally sat between the two girls, and while his group of friends started making a ruckus, he threw them a bomb.
"Based on Wandering Know-it-all's information, many of the foreign organizations have made close contact with Class One Hall, and that includes America's Dragon Sect, Russia's MMORPG guilds, at least two powerful people on the Great People Rank, and the creator of the International Great People Rank—the Prophet."
Silence fell.
Not only did the people who had been prepared to tease Happy hold their breaths, even Silver Wolf, who had been prepared for this a long time ago, was shocked by this sudden news. Je stared at Happy.
'Is this real?'
Silver Wolf's eyes were filled with disbelief, and he found this to be completely unexpected.
It had been less than one hour since they parted ways, and Happy brought out such an astonishing pie
ce of news from the game. It caught him off guard, and he even suspected whether this was a preparation for Happy to instigate the four sects into action against Class One Hall.
But when he thought about how this information came from Wandering Know-it-all, he immediately scowled and thought about this deeply.
More than twenty people in the living room had almost similar expressions on their faces.
"Is Dream Clouds mad?"
"She's inviting disaster to her own doorstep. How could she do this?"
"Duh, Class One Hall is already in a very bad situation. What else can she not do? But this is seriously an extreme move. She went to ask for reinforcements, and she even brought over so many powerful foreign organizations. It won't be easy for us to take down Class One Hall."
The rest nodded in silence.
While the people discussed this, Happy was paying attention to Xu Yao's reaction.
Just as he expected, her expressions changed a little.
Originally, he should not bring out the topic of going up against Class One Hall right in front of her, and he did not want to either, but unfortunately for him, Xu Yao was currently one of the higher ups in Mu Clan, and she mingled around with Xu Xin like sisters. No matter how he tried to keep such a major operation a secret, he will definitely reveal signs about it, which was why he already decided to attack overtly.
He was already fully prepared in his attack for Class One Hall, except for one thing.
But Happy found himself a little unable to deal with Xu Yao.
If Silver Wolf had not appeared to let Happy understand more about Xu Yao, Happy might have actually taken care of her along with Class One Hall.
But now, he found himself unable to.
Happy could only try to affect indirectly and hope that Xu Yao will choose between her friends and Class One Hall.
While the group discussed matters with each other, Phoenix Dances suddenly looked toward Happy. "Happy, you entered the game just now to contact Chivalry Sect and the other two sects, right?"
Sword Among Us c1-1268 Page 440