Chapter 315 - Breaking Past the Encirclement
“Are we giving up, just like that?” South Wolf still held some resentment in his heart. After all, Shi Feng had killed him once before.
“Then what do you propose?” Youlan revealed a calm smile. She then pointed towards the direction of the Silverleaf Forest in which Shi Feng had disappeared, saying, “If you aren’t satisfied, be my guest. However, you have already fully experienced Black Flame’s horrifying might. Under that complete silencing skill, he can easily kill whoever he wants. As long as the Cooldown for that skill refreshes, he might turn around and start another massacre. At that time, the first target he’ll go after will be you.”
When South Wolf heard her reasoning, cold sweat permeated his forehead as he recalled the scene of Shi Feng killing Ming Sha before escaping. Even until now, fear lingered within him.
“But how should we explain things to Young Master Feng?” Although South Wolf feared Shi Feng, Feng Xuanyang was not someone he could afford to provoke.
“I’ll deal with Young Master Feng. Today, we experienced Black Flame’s true strength, so consider it a great harvest. As for the other matters, let’s leave those to Guild Leader Tyrant to deal with.” Youlan said as she revealed a mysterious smile. She then turned around and left.
Feeling helpless, South Wolf sighed and departed with Youlan.
Now that both Lone Tyrant and Ming Sha had died, what could he, South Wolf, possibly do? Moreover, his main task for today was to show Youlan around the Guild and allow her to assess the situation at Dark Star. Hunting Zero Wing was a side task.
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At a lake nestled in the Silverleaf Forest, Fire Dance and the other core members of Zero Wing had been waiting for a long time now. However, even after so much time had passed, Shi Feng had yet to show up, causing them all to grow slightly anxious.
“Sister Fire Dance, Guild Leader still hasn’t shown up yet. Why don’t we check on him?” one of the Five Demon Generals, the Assassin, Flying Shadow asked.
In the past, Flying Shadow had been a solitary person. However, his strength could rank at the very top of Shadow. Although he had not performed any outstanding feats during the early stages of the game, he had not performed badly either. In general, he had been an average player.
In this life, however, after Shi Feng recruited him into the Zero Wing Workshop, he immediately assigned him to Zero Wing’s core team. Many in the Guild had initially voiced their opinions against this matter. However, as time slowly passed, everyone finally realized that Shi Feng’s decision was still as impeccable as always. It was not something the likes of them could hope to compare to.
Within the Zero Wing’s core team, Fire Dance had always been the publicly acknowledged number one Assassin of Zero Wing. Meanwhile, the position of number two Assassin had been undetermined. However, after Flying Shadow joined the Guild, his techniques rose rapidly with each passing battle and friendly competition. Very quickly, everyone began to acknowledge him, and now, he was considered the most powerful Assassin in Zero Wing after Fire Dance.
“No. Since Guild Leader has chosen to stay behind, he obviously is confident of obtaining victory. We will only be a hindrance if we try to help,” Fire Dance shook her head and rejected Flying Shadow’s proposal. In reality, however, she was also worried about Shi Feng.
At this moment, a black figure pierced through the brush, landing by the lakeside soundlessly.
Before anyone noticed, this black figure had arrived before them.
Fire Dance and Violet Cloud were the first to detect this figure’s presence.
Instinctively, Fire Dance retrieved the daggers from her waist, preparing to meet with a great enemy.
Soon after, everyone else discovered the presence of this new-comer as well, and they too promptly readied their weapons.
Although they could not see this black figure’s appearance clearly, the pressure the figure emitted was no less than a Lord ranked Boss.
“Guild Leader!” Fire Dance quickly recognized Shi Feng’s appearance, and she was greatly shocked when she felt his aura.
Previously, as they had been in a hurry to escape, she had not noticed Shi Feng’s change. Now that she confronted Shi Feng, face to face, she suddenly realized that Shi Feng’s strength had greatly improved. Right now, even she could not determine exactly how powerful Shi Feng was. It was especially true for the sharp and frightening aura he emanated.
“It seems that all of you have improved greatly recently. You actually managed to discover me so quickly.” Shi Feng examined his Guild members and revealed a satisfied smile.
Battles in God’s Domain were unlike any other virtual reality game. The improvement of a person’s strength was not limited to techniques and equipment. One must also possess a bestial intuition. After all, the penalty for death was not low, so such an intuition was essential when engaged in combat in the fields.
In reality, if players did not suffer death when grinding out in the fields, they could easily reach Level 200 within two years. Yet, Shi Feng had taken a decade to reach Level 200 in the past. Death was inevitable when battling in God’s Domain. In the past, Shi Feng had died countless times while participating in all sorts of combat.
In God’s Domain, danger always lurked around the corner. Guild wars were only a small part of the dangers in God’s Domain.
Thus, it was of utmost importance for a player to nurture a bestial intuition to avoid unnecessary deaths. It was also a key to leveling up quickly.
People’s lives in reality were simply too peaceful, so this bestial intuition had been completely buried deep in their bodies. However, as players experienced more battles in God’s Domain, this intuition would slowly rise to the surface. Meanwhile, the rate at which players improved also correlated to how strong their intuition became, and this was one of the main factors differentiating average players from experts.
Shi Feng chose to appear so stealthily to test everyone’s intuition, and the result had not disappointed him. Compared to several days ago, everyone present had improved greatly. Though, when compared to Fire Dance and Violet Cloud, everyone else’s improvement paled slightly. Nevertheless, they were still much stronger than the average elite player.
After Shi Feng finished evaluating everyone’s strengths, he then said with a smile, “Alright, let’s leave this place. Follow me.”
Leave?
This was exactly what everyone had constantly tried to do. However, it was simply too difficult to accomplish. Currently, Dark Star’s forces locked down the Silverleaf Forest. With their team of slightly more than 30, it was impossible to fight their way out of the forest.
In the next moment, however, Shi Feng gave everyone an Underwater Breathing Potion. This potion allowed players to breathe underwater for half an hour. Following which, Shi Feng gulped down the Breathing Potion and jumped into the lake. He then dove into the depths of the lake.
The team copied Shi Feng’s actions, drinking the Breathing Potion and jumping into the lake as well.
This lake was not just a pool of stagnant water. Instead, it connected to the other lakes found in the Silverleaf Forest.
A player in the past had accidentally stumbled on this particular secret. This player had only managed to discover this secret as he tried to catch the Silver Carp found in the Silverleaf Forest.
The Silver Carp was a precious cooking ingredient, and its flavor far surpassed the carp found in the real world. Moreover, after eating the dishes made using the Silver Carp, there was a very small chance for players to receive a permanent increase of 1 point to a Basic Attribute. Players could receive up to a total of 20 Attribute Points through consuming these delicacies. Unfortunately, the Attribute rewarded was always random. Even so, players still valued the Silver Carp.
Many players who were gourmands and wished to increase their strength would willingly spend a massive sum of money to purchase Silver Carp.
So, Silver Carp had always been short in supply, and their prices had steadily increased over time.
Back in the day, plenty of players would come to the Silverleaf Forest to fish for the Silver Carp. There was also no lack of bloodbaths due to competition over these Silver Carp as well.
Shi Feng led everyone through one underwater tunnel after another, gradually distancing themselves from Dark Star’s encirclement. However, Dark Star still held Silverleaf Forest’s exits. So, it was impossible for them to depart from the forest safely.
A Guild War Order could seal an area for 24 hours. During this period, no one could use Return Scrolls in this area. In addition, if enemy Guild members logged out of the game while in this area, they would receive very harsh punishment. This punishment was far more severe than even the penalty for death as it was meant to prevent players from abusing this method to avoid the war.
However, Guild War Orders had a Cooldown time of two natural days. In God’s Domain, that would be 96 hours. Hence, after players managed to endure and survive through the Guild War Order’s effective period of 24 hours, they could return directly to the city using a Return Scroll.
Shi Feng intended to take advantage of these underwater tunnels before anyone discovered their existence. By doing so, they could escape Dark Star’s surveillance and wait out the seal of the Guild War Order.
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Dark Star had a lot of members inside the Silverleaf Forest. However, due to Shi Feng’s group killing one of their teams, which had consisted of over 100 elite players, in addition to Shi Feng’s impossible feat of killing both Lone Tyrant and Ming Sha amidst the encirclement of over 1,000 players, Dark Star no longer dared spread their forces too thin. They even called for more reinforcements to the Silverleaf Forest. Yet, even after thoroughly searching the area where the previous battle took place, they still could not manage to locate any traces of Shi Feng and the others.
Time passed, little by little.
After his resurrection, Lone Tyrant was like a madman as he sent out all members of Dark Star to hunt Shi Feng’s team in the Silverleaf Forest. His insanity also attracted the attention of the players in White River City.
Why was Dark Star sending even more players to the Silverleaf Forest?
Were the thousands of players they had sent there before not enough to deal with the core members of Zero Wing?
At this time, a new post from Black Flame appeared on the forums, and within the post, there was a video. This video bore the title: