Chapter 73
◎ Preparation ◎
If the combat was mixed with death, it would make this meeting very sad.
Yu Chi raised her hand, and the still-a-pup silver wolf appeared on her shoulder, gently rubbing against her cheek. After waking up from her coma, she had only realized with the treant’s reminder that the guardians would not be completely destroyed.
As long as the master was still there, they would always reappear. It was just that the memory of death would be engraved in their minds, and the pain would also roll in their souls. But compared to completely losing the silver wolf, this was the best news.
They had won against the scavenger and obtained glory. Besides some physical scars, they had lost nothing.
This was really the best news.
So… even if Yu Chi couldn’t help but laugh out loud in front of the little old man Zuo He, you couldn’t blame her, right?
“It’s, it’s—” Li Feng dragged out his tone and yawned lazily. He had already recovered from an uncle to a young man in his 20s, but in his words… his uncle self was a little more charming.
“You really can’t be blamed,” he turned his head and glanced at Zuo He on the bed. “But Alliance Leader—he seems to want to kill you.”
Yu Chi was thinking about when these guys had started calling her Alliance Leader. This kind of joking alliance… ha, could it be that they already thought she was the boss in their hearts?
Thinking of this, she shivered twice. Of course, she was proud, but more than that, it was still… don’t.
—There was a very strange and awkward feeling, like an itchy rash all over her body.
Zuo He on the bed had actually already eaten an Almost Fruit. At least he wouldn’t be so weak that it was difficult to speak, and he had become an energetic little old man.
In fact, when they had walked into the cabin, the man was not like this at all. He was lying on the clean white sheets, as shriveled as a dried mummy.
His skin was wrinkled on his bones, his once delicate face was now covered with ravines, and his sparse white hair was plastered to his scalp—the next second he walked into the room, Li Feng had seen the tears falling from Yu Chi’s eyes.
Ah, although he also felt that this looked very uncomfortable, was it necessary to cry for that guy? Li Feng snorted coldly in his heart.
But he looked at the faint rise and fall of the other party’s chest, that body that was almost like a corpse, and pursed his lips again. Tsk, anyway, he’s about to be saved.
Seeing the two of them appear on his cabin, Zuo He’s eyes trembled a little. He should have been a kind-looking old man, but because his body was too shriveled, it made him look a little harsh.
However, the smile in his eyes at this moment washed away this harshness, making him look a little pitiful.
Zuo He raised his hand, his gaze sweeping over his withered fingers, then he put it down as if nothing had happened, turned his head, and said that he actually had no last words. There were many worries, but overall, this period of time had been quite happy.
His whole body was trembling when he said this, as if he were enduring some pain. Yu Chi wanted to stop him from continuing to speak, but he suddenly turned over and grabbed her wrist tightly—she didn’t know where he had gotten so much strength.
Zuo He looked at the fair and tender wrist in front of him. Ah, let’s just remove the word “tender.” The woman’s body was covered with traces of training. She was a very strong warrior.
He suddenly began to recall the past. There was nothing much to recall about his childhood, hmm, and nothing much to recall about his youth. His youth, his youth also had nothing much to recall…
It was like this in the first place, but when he was lying here, and he really felt that he was going to die, he suddenly felt that whether it was being cursed and beaten in his childhood and secretly hiding to read novels, or having the strength to read whatever he wanted after he grew up, or being screwed over by that twin brother, were actually very interesting things.
The most interesting thing was this sea game. For a person like him, this game had made his life very exciting, whether it was exploring the island on his own or acting with the two idiots next to the bed.
So he said, “Okay, I actually have two secrets.”
Yu Chi and Li Feng stared at him without blinking. That gaze should be sad, right? But Zuo He felt a little strange again. He attributed this to the illusion of his old and dim eyes and continued to speak.
“The first secret is—I really like to read dog-blood novels.”
Yu Chi’s mouth fell open, her expression half-smiling, and Li Feng was the same. Zuo He cursed the two of them in his heart. They were actually trying to laugh at him at such a serious moment.
But, he helplessly curled his lips. These two guys were just like this, and that was good.
“The second secret is—I actually like you… guys.”
After saying that, he let out a long sigh of relief and looked up at the ceiling.
“That’s it,” he finally muttered.
The room was very quiet. He didn’t know if the two of them were immersed in shock and pain. Although Zuo He felt that their friendship was still shallow, he also felt that his death still had some weight.
But the two of them stood by his side without moving. Zuo He felt a little strange. The two of them’s undisguised attitude made him start to feel that something was wrong. He subconsciously narrowed his eyes, and then he saw the two of them’s ferocious expressions that were almost unable to hold back their laughter.
After receiving Zuo He’s unfriendly gaze, Yu Chi finally walked over, twisting and trembling. “Ah, He Zi, let me tell you something. Don’t be angry.”
“What is there for me to be angry about now?” Zuo He asked calmly.
Yu Chi nodded seriously: “Okay, I believe you… it’s just that, you don’t have to die. We’ve found a way to save you.”
The expression on Zuo He’s face paused. “Impossible. I’m now…”
Yu Chi: “Do you still remember the Almost Fruit? That is, the Lover’s Fruit. It can directly restore life force. Li Feng had also become old, and now he has returned to his young state, so you…”
She stopped talking, because it was obvious that the expression on Zuo He’s face was a little wrong. It was a mixture of happiness, shame, and anger.
He looked up at them, his cloudy eyes becoming clear because of his anger.
Yu Chi waved her hands in a panic: “Grandpa Zuo He, you can’t be so angry at your age! Your body definitely can’t take it!”
Li Feng couldn’t stand it at all. He held his stomach and laughed exaggeratedly on the side. The entire cabin was filled with his laughter.
“Sorry, Grandpa Zuo He, hahahaha. I didn’t mean to laugh. I haven’t received such training, hahahahaha.”
“You two…!”
In short, omitting some messy things, the ending went to a fairy tale’s happy ending again.
Yu Chi and Li Feng had a big bump on their heads and were sitting obediently in the conference room for a meeting.
Besides the three of them, the meeting attendees also included An Jin and the twin sisters.
Because of the joint battle, the barrier between the few of them had almost disappeared. Not to mention the twin sisters, Yu Chi’s attitude towards An Jin had improved a lot.
The person who felt it the most should be An Jin himself. He held the watermelon drink that had been handed to him, his expression a little at a loss.
“Oh my, isn’t this a complete M?” Yue, one of the twin sisters, said, her expression carrying a trace of contempt.
Xing nodded with a smile: “A complete sis-con.”
Li Feng picked his ear. “Ha, I thought he was some big conspirator at first.”
Zuo He drank a sip of water: “Very trashy.”
The few of them’s continuous teasing made An Jin’s expression instantly ugly. He said fiercely, “Since you dare to think so, then be careful after I betray you…”
Yu Chi raised her hand and knocked him on the head. “What are you talking about?”
An Jin’s expression froze for a moment. The next second, he looked up and said fiercely, “You don’t really think I’m going to play some dear brother and sister game with you, do you?”
“Yeah, not pretending to be well-behaved anymore?” Yu Chi tilted her head and said with a grin, “Forget it. For the sake of you being so pleasing to the eye last night.”
No matter what the reason An Jin had joined at the beginning, he had never wanted to escape in that battle yesterday. Of course, there was no need to care about why he hadn’t escaped.
Whether it was because of self-esteem or something else, just in terms of the result, he could already be a partner who could be trusted with one’s back.
An Jin met her gaze, and in the end, he just snorted coldly and turned his head away, not speaking again.
He was not supposed to be able to attend this meeting, not because his identity or strength was not enough, but simply because when the others were fine, he himself was still going crazy in the outer sea.
Angel’s Judgment—that was not an ordinary skill. It could even make an angel completely lose his reason and even become a fallen angel.
But in the end, Yu Chi went to catch him back.
“Ha, do you guys think I’m very kind?” Yu Chi also learned from Li Feng and picked her ear. She felt that this appearance could completely express her disdain. “It’s just because I’m the only one among you who can fly!”
An Jin flew very high, and Zuo He secretly cursed him as a birdman from below.
“Aren’t there flying items?” Yue pushed Yu Chi with a grin. “Okay, okay, don’t be awkward, sister.”
“Your angel brother is still waiting for you.”
Yu Chi ground her teeth and finally flew into the air and pulled An Jin down.
Of course, this was not a simple matter. She had gotten a lot of scars for this. There were some recovery potions in her space that were helpful to the spirit, not to restore Spirit, but to have a soothing effect on the damage to the brain.
Yu Chi had spent a lot of effort to stuff that plant into An Jin’s mouth.
After the two of them came down from the air, Zuo He carried Yu Chi from An Jin’s hands and said coldly, “As expected, you’re still so annoying.”
An Jin’s lips curled. “You’re not much better.”
If Yu Chi were a little more careful, she would have found that An Jin and Zuo He had also had an encounter before, and it was a rather bad past. But for the current alliance, this was not important.
While they were arguing, Yu Chi was taken away by the gentle Xing. She was a mage, and besides that, she was also good at some simple medical skills such as bandaging.
Although most of the injuries in this game could be healed by various materials, a person who knew medical knowledge was still different from others.
Everyone had to admit that Yu Chi had recovered very quickly, and that was even on the premise that she couldn’t use Holy Light herself.
Back to the present.
They needed to discuss some serious matters about this war, such as recruiting more people.
Even with the Federation and Yanhuang in front of them, it was no longer a big deal, because now, besides the scavengers, the number one territorial sea among the players was the [Dazed Alliance].
The name, hmm, everyone had completely passed the new stage of shame and began to be proud of their alliance.
The 27th position, while the highest of the other alliances was only 76th.
Of course, it was possible that the scavengers who had gone to fight with these two alliances were not strong enough, but this did not deny the strength of the [Dazed Alliance].
The territorial sea ranking usually mixed all the alliances and individuals together, but since there were alliances, individuals could not get on the list at all, so many players also treated the territorial sea ranking as the alliance ranking.
And the reason why they needed to recruit people was because of the 5 additional islands in the territorial sea.
Yes, after defeating that scavenger, the public territorial sea belonging to the [Dazed Alliance] had suddenly gained five islands of level 1-5. After the battle was won, they hadn’t even thought about this. It was not until everyone had recovered that this huge reward was presented to them.
“If we need to recruit people, we also need to level up,” Yu Chi said.
For each player in the territorial sea to level up, their public area would become larger, which would also allow more players to join.
Zuo He nodded: “I’m level four. What about you guys?”
Privacy that they didn’t want to expose could usually only be seen by the alliance leader.
Li Feng: “Level three.”
Xing and Yue: “We’re also level three.”
They were rather special. It might be because they were twins. When they entered this game, the system had given them two choices—to fight together in the future, or to fight separately.
If it was the former, they would share the welfare of one person as two people.
The twins had chosen the former without hesitation. They had never been separated since they were young, and they did not think that this game would separate them.
Even death could not.
An Jin crossed his arms and said coldly, “Level four.”
After everyone had answered, their heads all turned to their alliance leader.
The alliance leader rubbed her chin, her eyes guiltily looking at the ceiling. “Ahahahaha, anyway, I’ll level up.”
“So, what’s your level, sister?” An Jin asked with a malicious intent.
Yu Chi glared at him, but in the end, she could only say helplessly under the gazes of the others, “Okay, I’m only level two now.”
“Boo—”
“I’ll level up tonight!” Yu Chi emphasized.
“The alliance leader is the weakest.”
“Mmm, the weakest.”
“The weakest alliance leader among all the members.”
Yu Chi: “…” There are more and more annoying guys.
However, the meeting had to continue.
“So, what are the criteria for recruiting?” Li Feng crossed his legs and spun a pen lazily. “We can’t just pull anyone in, right?”
“Of course not,” Zuo He glanced at her faintly. “At least they have to be stronger than the alliance leader.”
Yu Chi: “…”
Zuo He is definitely getting revenge. Damn it, I’ll endure it.
An Jin snorted coldly: “Recruiting is not a problem. The problem is—” he paused, his sharp eyes sweeping over the crowd. “Do we need more people?”
The air was silent for a moment.
Not to mention Li Feng’s little brothers, they had also suffered heavy losses yesterday. Fortunately, no one had died, and it was also thanks to the fact that the scavenger had later recovered all the energy.
These little brothers were barely trustworthy. They had not caused any trouble during the time they had joined, and they were very obedient. What made Yu Chi feel strange was that compared to Li Feng’s words, they were more willing to listen to hers.
Of course, she didn’t know that the premise for Li Feng to let them join was to recognize a new boss. Only by putting Yu Chi’s orders first could they join.
Yu Chi just felt that her personal charm was too strong, hee hee.
Back to the topic, the strength of the newly joined players would definitely be strong and weak. Although their current core members were not many, they had already established enough trust with each other. If they rashly recruited people, it was very likely that the disadvantages would be revealed before the benefits were obtained.
“We need them,” Yu Chi suddenly said, her tone firm. “The scavengers will not give up. They have only temporarily retreated. The next attack will only be more fierce.”
She looked around, her gaze serious: “And, our territorial sea range has expanded. The resources of the five islands need manpower to manage. Just the few of us are not enough.”
The resources of these 5 islands could not be wasted just like that. Even if she bought robots, she would have to buy thousands or tens of thousands of them, which was not worth it.
What’s more, if the alliance only had these few people from beginning to end, once the scavengers came in a group, those mutants would easily invade the various islands.
Zuo He pondered for a moment and nodded: “That makes sense.”
Li Feng shrugged: “I have no objection. What are the recruitment criteria? We can’t just look at the level, right?”
“We should still look at their character,” Yu Chi said seriously and nonsensically.
Of course, she knew that this could not be seen, but she also knew very well that she was not good at conspiracies and might be easily backstabbed.
Xing blinked: “Then how do we test? Just ask ‘are you a good person’?”
Yue added with a smile: “Or ‘will you betray us’?”
Yu Chi: “…” These two sisters are putting on a double act every day.
“Character is secondary,” An Jin suddenly said, his eyes cold. “For a large-scale recruitment, we can’t put character first. We can only go by strength.”
This was also something that couldn’t be helped. The number of people to be recruited was too many, and they couldn’t determine who was a good person and who was not.
An Jin: “If you’re not at ease, you can temporarily place those who are recruited at the outermost periphery.”
“Then let’s divide the members of the alliance,” Zuo He said. “For example, core members, internal members, and peripheral members.”
He had completely moved some things over, but this was also appropriate.
As for the judgment criteria for these few members, that could be done slowly. Even if there were some ulterior motives, such as people sent by other alliances, they should also work hard in the early stages. At least they would have to be upgraded to internal members before their purpose would be exposed.
Li Feng: “Then am I a core member?”
Yu Chi blinked excitedly. She raised an index finger and shook it. “No, no, you guys will be my alliance’s cadres in the future.”
Alliance leader, cadres, core members, internal members, and peripheral members. The 5 levels of the alliance were thus divided.
“Then let’s start arranging the tasks now,” Yu Chi stood up from her first seat. “An Jin will be in charge of recruitment-related matters, and Zuo He will be in charge of making plans, such as level requirements, territorial sea requirements, and so on.”
“Xing and Yue will be in charge of sorting out the resources on the island, dividing the public area buildings, and so on. If you need money, you can come to me,” Yu Chi opened the alliance and transferred 1 billion to the public funds interface.
“Li Feng will be the opponent of those who are recruited. Unless you defeat him, the position of core member will be empty.”
Yu Chi didn’t want just anyone who was called a strong person to be a core member.
“As for me—”
Zuo He: “You go and level up.”
“Well, that’s true,” Yu Chi shrugged and spread her hands. “It might be a big deal tonight, but I should be fine.”
She smiled.