Chapter 432: Internal Division

【Force "Cherry Blossom Blade Group" (Dong Da Qu) has declared war on force "Black Feather" (Dong Da Qu)!】

【Force "Holy Light Sanctuary" (Xi Da Qu) has declared war on force "Black Feather" (Dong Da Qu)!】

【Force "Promised Land" (Xi Da Qu) has declared war on force "Black Feather" (Dong Da Qu)!】

【Force "Gospel Expeditionary Army" (Xi Da Qu) has declared war on force "Black Feather" (Dong Da Qu)!】

……

The icy text of the announcement hasn't faded yet, and the system alert sound has already fallen like hail, sweeping densely across the edge of Cheng Shuili's vision.

The forces declaring war are too many to count, and Cheng Shuili doesn't have time to count them now.

But one thing she sees clearly: the system seems to have simply divided the new regions according to the four directions.

This also suits Cheng Shuili's taste, after all, the Long Guo region, this region, that region—too many and mixed; it's not as clear as this direct division.

Just look: aside from the Cherry Blossom Blade Group of Dong Da Qu, all the forces declaring war on Black Feather are from Xi Da Qu.

Even though Cheng Shuili had anticipated this, when it actually happened she still felt a hint of helplessness.

Moreover, they seem organized, declaring war only on Black Feather.

It looks as if they had agreed beforehand to first take down this behemoth of Long Guo.

Cheng Shuili originally thought their tactics were just this, but soon the messages in the group chat refreshed her understanding of them.

"Someone from Xi Da Qu contacted me, saying they're from the Gospel Expeditionary Army; I saw the name—isn't that the force that declared war on Black Feather?"

"They contacted you too? They contacted me as well, saying they're the Xi Da Qu First Alliance, now only targeting Wu Ya, only declaring war on Black Feather, and they listed many benefits, asking me to sign a trade contract with them."

"I got it too! They sent me the contract; it doesn't say much, just a few clauses—their principle is that as long as we Long Guo forces don't move, we can get a big benefit!"

Cheng Shuili's eyes narrowed.

Division, recruitment, creating internal rifts…

These tactics are even more sinister and efficient than she had imagined.

They are not only focusing fire on Black Feather militarily, but also trying to isolate her economically and diplomatically, even attempting to turn possible allies or neutrals.

"I received it too." Zhan Lang's voice carried obvious anger: "They want us to sit back and watch Wu Ya be besieged to achieve their goal—daydream!"

"That's not how to put it," another faction leader spoke, tone tinged with hesitation and shrewdness: "These ten minutes are a test, not an all-out war. The terms they offered… are indeed very generous. As long as we do nothing, we can obtain supplies and Game Coin. The loss is Black Feather's, the gain is ours all. Moreover, looking at the situation, Black Feather being eyed by so many forces…"

He didn't continue, but the meaning was already clear.

Black Feather probably can't hold out; rather than suffer together, it's better to seize the opportunity to gain some benefits and preserve strength.

As soon as these messages came out, the group chat's atmosphere instantly became subtle and tense.

Cheng Shuili almost laughed from anger, busy pulling together the Long Guo alliance—any Tom, Dick, or Harry joined in.

Indeed, they now get a benefit just by doing nothing.

Later, when it's their turn to be besieged, other forces can also get a benefit by doing nothing.

Even to deal with them, no siege is needed at all!

Cheng Shuili opened the group chat's voice function for the first time; her voice was calm, yet carried a cold, resolute edge.

After all, such fools absolutely cannot be kept.

She tagged the speaker and then said: "You, and anyone else harboring similar thoughts, listen. Now, quit the alliance and sign that servitude contract—I won't stop you. But we too have signed a contract; the penalty for breach, you'd better prepare to bear."

"After the ten‑minute test ends, if Black Feather is still standing, I will bring the gifts from all the Xi Da Qu forces that besieged me today and visit each of you who signed the contract one by one. By then, I hope the little benefit you got is enough to buy your lives."

"If Black Feather falls…"

Cheng Shuili's voice carried a hint of near‑cruel mockery.

"Do you think a pack of wolves that can easily unite to tear apart the strongest will next… keep sharing meat with onlookers, or go ahead and swallow the few with the least meat and softest bones?"

"Wall‑grass is the first to be uprooted in a storm."

"You decide."

These words indeed steadied several wavering forces.

To them, Xi Da Qu is ultimately outsiders; anyway, they're just following people—better to follow their own people.

Moreover, since the contract with Black Feather came first, the benefits promised by Xi Da Qu, no matter how many, are still unseen, while the penalty for breach is real and present; compared, they naturally lean toward staying as they are.

But good advice can't persuade the damned; there really are stubborn leaders who would rather breach the contract and quit.

This person's ID is Zhi Shou Zhe Tian; he not only wants to quit, but seems to think that having already torn faces, anything goes, and he still shouted a few lines in the group:

"What nonsense! Do you really think you're the emperor of Dong Da Qu? I'm not serving you anymore! Xi Da Qu's terms are right there—real gold and silver! Following you Wu Ya, besides being cannon fodder, what else can you gain? And you threaten me? First see if you yourself can survive these ten minutes! Everyone, hear my advice: those who know the times are the outstanding!"

His voice carried the excitement unique to gamblers, as if leaving the Long Guo alliance would let him instantly climb Xi Da Qu's high branch and thereafter rise to fame and fortune.

Cheng Shuili didn't even bother to sneer; she directly operated the panel, kicked him out of the group chat, called up the alliance contract certified by the system, and clicked the breach judgment.

This thing is normally unused, but once used, the system's response is extremely swift!

Almost instantly, the notice panel appeared before all leaders who had signed the contract:

【Detected that the signatory "Zhi Shou Zhe Tian" unilaterally breached the contract, with clear hostile intent.】

【Penalty takes effect!】

The penalty for this contract, jointly drafted by the leaders, is the heaviest tier for unilateral breach plus clear hostile intent: the system will directly deduct 75% of the leader's personal assets, 50% of the personal assets of core members within the force, and all of the force's public assets.

At the same time, due to this "breach of trust," the system will, in every future transaction of Zhi Shou Zhe Tian, give prior notice of this breach.

Almost the moment the system notice popped up, the group chat exploded.

"Hahaha, serves you right! Let you be a two‑five‑guy! Wu Ya Dalao is awesome! The contract is awesome!"

"Sigh… this penalty is too harsh, knocking us back to before liberation!"

"Harsh? Not being harsh on traitors, otherwise we'd be spoiling them? This serves as a warning to all who want to be fence‑sitters."

"Zhi Shou Zhe Tian—why isn't he shouting anymore? Just now he was quite loud."

"He's probably crying… now it's really a case of stealing a chicken and losing the rice—no, losing the whole chicken coop!"

……

The entire punishment appeared to be most severe in the former, but Cheng Shuili knew clearly that the latter was the most severe.

Because Zhi Shou Zhe Tian had this time betrayed the entire Long Guo Alliance.

In just a ten-minute test, the players already showed a clear tendency to group together by major district, let alone after the official server merge.

And when that time came, how would the traitor Zhi Shou Zhe Tian be treated?

Cheng Shuili had no time to think deeply about it; the instant the declaration of war was issued, it meant that players from other major districts could already invade Black Feather's territory.

Yet even after she finished handling matters in the group chat, Cheng Shuili received no enemy invasion alert.

Since there was no invasion, they must be exerting force elsewhere.

After the server merge, private chat became usable.

So Cheng Shuili's private chat page was, unsurprisingly, instantly stuffed with all kinds of spam messages—begging, idol-chasing, seeking sugar daddies, cursing, and floods of incomprehensible symbols.

Cheng Shuili expressionlessly ignored these messages and asked 001 to find any messages that might have been sent by the player who declared war from Xi Da Qu.

A moment later, 001 actually found one among several thousand messages.

The sender was an unfamiliar ID called Prophet Moses.

【Prophet Moses】: Respected number one of Dong Da Qu, Leader Wu Ya. It is regrettable that our first exchange takes place in this manner...

He had a lot of empty talk, but in summary there was only one meaning:

Though they looked down on Wu Ya Zuo Fei Ji, they thought highly of Hei Yu An Quan Qu, and thought highly of Black Feather's territory.

They did not want to destroy all the buildings of this newly established safe zone, nor did they wish to ruin the landmark structures of Black Feather's territory, much less see the territory they had painstakingly conquered turn into ruins.

Therefore, they gave Cheng Shuili five minutes to make a decision—whether she was willing to return to the highway and accept their duel invitation.

Cheng Shuili looked at 【Prophet Moses】's final words, her fingertips lightly tapping twice on the cold control panel, her face devoid of any expression.

Didn't want to destroy? Didn't wish to ruin? Didn't want it turned into ruins?

How laughable. Where did they get such confidence?

They wanted both to seize the fruits of victory and to preserve the spoils' intactness as much as possible, and even wanted to use this fake duel to make her underestimate them.

Or was it purely to satisfy some ridiculous desire to perform chivalry?

Or perhaps, was this just another trap to drain her time and attention?

After all, the moment she left her territory, that group of players who knew her ID would swarm in like sharks smelling blood. Then, by simply nesting duel cards, they could easily achieve a siege against her, the leader!

Even if Cheng Shuili had great strength, she certainly could not match so many of them combined.

This was the thinking of those people from Xi Da Qu.

But for Cheng Shuili, this invitation was exactly what she wanted!

If fighting broke out within Black Feather's faction territory, Cheng Shuili would have to be cautious even using a rocket launcher—after all, every brick and tile, every blade of grass and tree in the territory was built bit by bit by their Black Feather players, consuming real resources.

Fighting a war in their own backyard, even a victory would be a pyrrhic one, and the cost of rebuilding would be equally steep.

This duel invitation happened to give her an opportunity to push the main battlefield outward.

Besides, who said only the other side could bring a lot of people?

Even if those people from Xi Da Qu used duel cards, Cheng Shuili could call people too—a lot, a lot of people!

The faction had a function called Cloud-Piercing Arrow, plainly put it was "escort protection," and Cheng Shuili had never used it.

But now, wasn't this exactly the opportunity to use it?

That batch of weapons given by the Rat King had already been temporarily distributed; the current Black Feather was no pushover.

But Cheng Shuili was not someone who only took hits without thinking of hitting back; once she confirmed the situation, she immediately opened Ailin's private message, telling her to imitate the situation when they were jointly declared war upon, and go deliver gifts to each territory with a rocket launcher.

Ailin did not hesitate either; the message had barely been sent when an extremely excited voice reply came back:

"Lao Da! I've been waiting for those words!"

"I've long had it out for that bunch of snarky Xi Da Qu bastards! What Holy Light Sanctuary, what Gospel Crusade—their names sound like a choir, but what they do is dirtier than sewer rats!"

"Don't worry, Lao Da, our squads guarantee we'll deliver a hot opening gift to every one of them—guarantee we'll make even their ancestral tablets see clearly!"

Cheng Shuili smiled and closed the private chat page with peace of mind.

With everything arranged, all that remained was to answer the battle.

She replied to Prophet Moses: "Fine, I accept your duel invitation."

The message sent, Cheng Shuili cleanly and decisively returned to her vehicle.

Almost immediately, new vehicles began appearing around hers, one after another, like a long dragon, trailing a long tail along the highway.

But this small distance was quickly erased amid the roar of accelerators.

Those people from Xi Da Qu formed an encirclement with their vehicles, and Cheng Shuili, like a lamb to the slaughter, was surrounded right in the middle.

Cheng Shuili did not rush to call people, but patiently waited a moment.

Because the server merge test was only ten minutes, the other side also moved quickly.

A person jumped down from the vehicle directly facing hers—a bald man wearing a black vest covered in patterns. He held a cigarette in his hand; after jumping off the vehicle, he first raised his hand and took a drag, then placed the object in his hand on the highway.

Cheng Shuili had originally thought this person was Prophet Moses, but unexpectedly, a voice soon came from the object the bald man had set down: "A wise choice, this... Miss Wu Ya."

Judging from the meaning in those words, this... fellow speaking through a speaker, was Prophet Moses.

Cheng Shuili raised an eyebrow—he was quite careful with his life.

Prophet Moses's voice carried smugness, carrying a kind of hypocritical pity: "We admire your courage, but regrettably, you seem to lack the wisdom matching the title of number one in the entire server."

"A duel card can indeed only be used on you once, but that doesn't mean it can't be used on the player who used a duel card on you. Your Long Guo has an old saying: all is fair in war."

"Miss Wu Ya, I regret to inform you that you have been deceived."

Cheng Shuili listened to that declaration of affected smugness coming from the cheap speaker, and on her face there was not the slightest anger or panic of having been fooled—instead, a smile slowly curved upward.