Chapter Seventy-Six: Messenger of the Moonlight

Peach Blossom Dock General Assembly.

An Qing sat in a conference room, engaged in a discussion with his newly formed team, his expression rather grim.

“Is that Zhao Weimin?”

“We’re not sure, but it looks a lot like him. The news has already spread through several major guilds.”

“It should be the Moonlight Mirror Image from the Moon-by-Moon Secret Realm. At the time, it was people from Jingbei Industries who were attacked. They confirmed the mirror image was level 63. President Zhao had already reached level 67 before, so it’s likely just a template copied from the Moonlight Land, not the real person.”

“The latest report is in: the Scout skill only revealed a name, with no Explorer ID. The monster is called ‘Moonlight Envoy,’ but many of its attack patterns are just like President Zhao’s. Now, the mirror image has retreated near the Door of Dimensions. There are many monsters above level 60 gathering there. It seems they’re assembling, but we haven’t been able to get more information.”

“Send someone to the front lines as soon as possible and find out what’s really going on.”

An Qing gave the order, but the group of team leaders around him exchanged awkward glances; no one volunteered.

Peach Blossom Dock’s main force had already been heavily damaged. Most of those remaining were second-tier teams. They faced monsters over level 60, and even people from Jingbei Industries had been attacked.

If it were just a simple investigation, the risk would still be considerable.

Though they were siding with An Qing for now, it didn’t mean they were willing to risk their lives for him—especially when it involved the former president. Some of them couldn’t hide their conflicted feelings. They’d chosen to follow An Qing because they hoped for rewards, but now that his authority was clearly waning, some were already contemplating switching sides.

“I’ll take some people and have a look. Sooner or later, we have to go. With the scale of this incident, the authorities will probably assign defense zones soon, and we can’t avoid that.”

Finally, a warrior named Old Hei, clad in black iron armor, stood up and broke the silence.

He was one of the few who had recently transferred from another guild, hoping to make a name for himself with An Qing in Peach Blossom Dock.

Old Hei came from the Hanzhong Safe Zone. After some conflict with his old guild, he returned to the Jingmen Safe Zone.

An Qing had treated him well, granting him a relatively high position, so Old Hei was eager to return the favor.

“Alright. A Ming, assist Old Hei. Your main task is to stay in contact with the authorities. I’ll take care of the rest.”

An Qing, aware of his diminishing authority, chose not to argue with those present.

What really worried him was the possibility that Zhao Weimin and Yi Qinfei might still be alive.

If they returned now, considering what he had done, his own fate would be grim indeed!

Bloodslaughter General Assembly.

President Chen Yuan had quickly gathered his people.

This time, besides several presidents, the leaders of Bloodslaughter’s major teams were also present.

“The monsters from Moonlight Land are rioting, and there’s a chance they may attack the city. We’ve already marked out our internal defense lines and taken over a number of smaller guilds’ territories. As always, whoever holds the most defense lines in the end gets the largest share of resources when it’s all over.”

Meetings at Bloodslaughter were simpler than at Peach Blossom Dock.

They didn’t sit solemnly around a conference table. Instead, a sand table was spread in the center of the room, marked with areas where monsters had gathered. Each team leader would claim a zone.

Major guilds had significant authority within the city, but with that came mutual obligations. When applying for jurisdiction over certain districts or rights to shops, they would also be assigned a region to manage, or foundational responsibilities in alternate dimension exploration.

Soon, the Bloodslaughter team leaders each accepted their respective zones.

Those who joined Bloodslaughter were generally tough and spirited. They joked amongst themselves as they prepared their squads to set out. Some had already been to the Moonlight Land Plane, so their morale was high.

Once most people had left, Chen Yuan spoke again:

“Send more people to scout the north and see if you can find any abnormal spatial phenomena. For this many monsters to appear on Blue Star, it’s most likely a spatial disturbance. A new Door of Dimensions may be forming.”

“I’ve already got people on it, and I’ve stationed drones near the North Jing River just in case. But these monsters are high-level, so we’ll have to fight carefully,” said Fatty Qian Ye, another vice president, nodding in agreement.

Jiang Jinying and Shi Yao said little, already assigning tasks to their teams via communicator. Still, Jiang Jinying looked more concerned than the others; she felt that this incident was more complicated than it seemed.

Jingmen Safe Zone General Operations Center.

The authorities issued a notice: ten elite squads had been assembled from the military and martial academies.

Jingbei Industries’ key team leaders had already convened a battle meeting to coordinate with the authorities and fully assess the threat.

Jianghe was also mobilizing personnel. Zhao Nanxing and Lin Grape received the news a bit later, but they too had sent people to investigate.

Whenever the major guilds made a move,

The atmosphere throughout the Jingmen Safe Zone grew tense.

“Troubled times,” someone sighed.

No sooner had the incident at Peach Blossom Dock faded than a surge of energy erupted from Moonlight Land.

“It might not be a bad thing. The spheres of influence of the major guilds are closely tied to city defense, and everyone’s been keeping their cards close to their chests. This time, we might finally see which guild is truly strongest. Last time, the internal reshuffling didn’t amount to much. This time, it looks like the threat of these exotic beasts will force them to change.”

Analyses and discussions spread quickly.

Jingbei Industries, at least, felt little pressure.

Backed by Jingmen’s top martial academy, they were virtually semi-official.

The real pressure was on Bloodslaughter, Jianghe, and the scattered remnants of Peach Blossom Dock.

Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.

Only in real combat will it be clear which guild has the deepest foundations!

Tense preparations and deployments went on for two or three days.

At first, some thought it was making a mountain out of a molehill—

They believed there wouldn’t be that many monsters, and that, as before, they could be gradually wiped out.

But this time was different. The monsters were not only more powerful than expected, but many were previously unseen and unrecorded. On the third day of mobilization, they launched a direct assault!

Fortunately, the authorities had acted swiftly, establishing defensive lines in advance.

Otherwise, the first wave alone might have reached the city’s very edge!

(End of chapter)