Chapter 52: An Enemy Approaches

"Pfft!" Lilith and Xiaomeng burst into laughter simultaneously. "Hahaha! You two, can you not be so funny! God-swindler, what are you doing, still putting on such a solemn face? That expression is so funny! Hahaha!" Lilith laughed until she was trembling all over. Lin Zheng could no longer maintain his expression either, revealing a helpless, wry smile! Yang Qi, having put away her Crimson Nightmare, walked over to Lin Zheng, nudged him with her elbow, and said with a mischievous smile in a low voice, "This girl has a lot of personality; why don't you claim her?"

"Damn it, can you be any more shameless?" Lin Zheng rolled his eyes and said, "If you want to claim her, you do it. I can't handle a young miss like that!"

"I'd love to claim her, but unfortunately, I'm a woman!"

"Then do you really think she'd fall for me? Stop talking nonsense!"

...

The two whispered softly, discussing such a scandalous topic with completely straight faces! At that moment, a remark from Xiaomeng completely set off Xiaomo! Xiaomeng laughed carelessly, "Oh my! Xiaomo, you look just like a god-swindler! Big Brother God-swindler is a god-swindler, and you're a god-swindler too! You two make a perfect pair!"

"Who wants to be a pair with him?!" Xiaomo shrieked. Losing her usual composure, she angrily grabbed Xiaomeng by both cheeks. "If you dare to talk nonsense again, I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"Wrong! I won't do it anymore!" Xiaomeng said indistinctly. "Spare my life!"

"Hmph—" Xiaomo released her hands, patted her chest with her right hand, and said proudly, "This young lady is naturally blessed with beauty and a wealthy background! How could I possibly be a pair with a shut-in who only knows how to play games?! If you speak without thinking next time, see how I deal with you!"

"Hmm—that being said..." Lin Zheng said with a pensive look, "Young Miss, what are you even doing in the game?" This left Xiaomo completely speechless. She stammered, "A-As a, a brilliant young miss, one must understand what the lives of commoners are like! That's right, I'm here to experience the lives of commoners!" The more she spoke, the more confident Xiaomo became, as if that really was the case! The surrounding people couldn't help but cover their mouths and snicker. Xiaomo's pretty face flushed red, and not knowing how to justify herself further, she simply tossed her head back and huffed, "Hmph—forget it!"

The pursuit battle was a resounding victory. Aside from a few players who ran at the very front, several hundred players from the Glory Guild were intercepted by the Longyuan players and sent back to the city for free. Facing the triumphant return of the Longyuan players, a gentle "thank you" from Yuhi completely ignited their passion! Each and every one of them was more excited than if they had met a superstar! It left Lin Zheng and Yang Qi clicking their tongues in amazement. They had always heard that hearsay is untrustworthy and seeing is believing, but this time they truly witnessed Yuhi's unrivaled popularity in Longyuan!

Moreover, unlike the adoration for pop idols, the students' feelings toward Yuhi were clearly more akin to doting fondness—a genuine affection straight from the bottom of their hearts! This was an emotion that idol stars could never evoke among this talented group of students. Lin Zheng believed that Yuhi couldn't possibly be loved by the entire Longyuan just because of her adorable appearance; something significant must have happened in the past to make the whole school dote on Yuhi to such a fanatical degree! Lin Zheng stared at the silent girl. What earth-shattering thing had she actually done?

"Alright! Everyone, quiet down!" Xiaomo shouted loudly. As the newly appointed fan club president, Xiaomo still held a lot of authority among the girls, and the boys were quite willing to give face to this long-legged beauty, so the scene instantly fell into a startling silence! This left Lin Zheng somewhat stunned, thinking to himself, "This girl seems to have the potential of a leader!"

Xiaomo swept her gaze over the crowd and said, "For now, we've beaten back the Glory Guild. But the Glory Guild is the top guild in Frostheaven City, with tens of thousands of members. Having suffered two consecutive defeats today, they certainly won't let the matter rest! Right now, we must come up with a plan to deal with any future retaliation from the Glory Guild!"

"That's easy to handle!" Lin Zheng said with a calm expression. Suddenly, everyone's gaze fell upon him. Lin Zheng smiled. "The Glory Guild's methods of retaliation are nothing more than using their numerical advantage to strike at us. Although Longyuan doesn't have a formal guild, it has two major fan clubs with a total of nearly twenty thousand members! And surely everyone has at least one or two close friends in the game, right?! Therefore, as long as we unite the two major fan clubs into a single force, we will have the strength to stand up to them!"

"What you said is correct!" Xiaomo stared at Lin Zheng and said, "But you overlooked one thing!"

"What thing?" Lin Zheng was momentarily stunned, genuinely unable to figure out what he had missed.

"The Glory Guild is a veteran guild with many players who are extremely proficient in all kinds of games, whereas a large portion of our Longyuan members are novices. Because of this, even if we can match them in numbers, we will fall far short in quality. In a battle of equal numbers, we will lose miserably!"

"Your analysis makes a lot of sense!" Yang Qi smiled. "However, you've only seen one side of the coin and failed to notice the other aspects!"

Seeing Xiaomo's puzzled expression, Yang Qi explained to her, "Guilds in the game have developed to the point where many have become profit-driven entities. In other words, every action a guild takes must yield a return, and the Glory Guild is precisely that kind of guild! Their goal in wanting to dominate Frostheaven City is to secure the maximum benefits! However, for now, before the Guild Establishment Tokens are even available, launching large-scale PK does not serve their interests. Because regardless of whether they win or lose, PK will impact their guild's strength and cause their plans for conquering the Hero Tokens to be delayed! Furthermore, Frostheaven City isn't the only guild capable of claiming the first Hero Token; to seize the honor and influence of establishing the first guild, they will definitely restrain their members from engaging in large-scale PK! Because of this, even if individual Glory members seek revenge, their numbers won't be too large, and Longyuan can completely use its numerical advantage to counterattack! Hehe! What we're bullying them for is the fact that they don't dare to dispatch large forces to retaliate! But everyone shouldn't get too arrogant either and proactively provoke PK, driving them into a corner—that would be disastrous!"

Upon hearing Yang Qi's explanation, the Longyuan players showed expressions of sudden realization, and so did Xiaomo. However, after pondering for a moment, Xiaomo said again, "There's still a problem! What you're saying applies to now, when they don't dare to launch large-scale retaliation. But what about after they establish their guild? By then, their strength will have soared, and won't their revenge be even more violent?"

"That's right! If it were me, I'd definitely settle accounts later!"

"Suppressing their anger until they establish their guild—when it finally erupts, it's bound to be even more ferocious!"

"..." Xiaomo's question sparked a heated discussion among the students. After all, this was a problem they would have to face sooner or later; being content with the current temporary peace would only make things miserable when the time came!