Heroes' Prison

Chapter 368 - 360: The True Mastermind

"Everyone, pick up the pace; we’re nearly at Dragon City. I’m sure by now those hundred Holy Domain Half-orcs have flattened Dragon City, and by the time we get there, we’ll just charge in and loot and plunder! There’s nothing special about Instakill; we are the true invincible legion!" Ice Wind Water Soul activated the army-wide shout, his voice ringing in the ears of fifteen million players, his face wearing a satisfied smile, thoroughly enjoying the feeling of commanding everything.

"Ding!" Just then, Xiao Shiyilang suddenly received a message from a member of the intelligence team. He was about to open it when another message came in.

Message after message flooded in like the tide, and within just a few seconds, he had received dozens of messages! The ding-ding sound rose densely, carried with it an urgency.

"Hmm? What’s going on?" Xiao Shiyilang was slightly stunned and muttered to himself.

"What’s up?" Ice Wind Water Soul noticed Xiao Shiyilang’s expression and couldn’t help but ask.

"It’s nothing, just someone sent me a message," Xiao Shiyilang shook his head with a smile and browsed through the messages.

The next moment, his smile froze.

Among the fifteen million player army, he stood still like a statue, allowing his mount to carry him forward at a gallop.

"What’s wrong?" At this point, Ice Wind Water Soul also sensed something amiss and stared at Xiao Shiyilang again.

"Defeated!" Xiao Shiyilang turned his head, staring blankly at Ice Wind Water Soul, and muttered.

"What’s defeated?" Ice Wind Water Soul frowned in confusion and asked.

"The hundred Holy Domain Half-orcs, defeated!"

"What’s defeated?" Ice Wind Water Soul, while riding his mount at a gallop, cupped a hand to his ear and asked loudly again, as if he hadn’t heard clearly.

Xiao Shiyilang swallowed hard and said, "The hundred Holy Domain Warriors dispatched by the Half-Beast Holy Land were defeated outside Dragon City! Now, the surviving few are fleeing in panic!"

"What?!" Ice Wind Water Soul was stunned for a moment, then looked at Xiao Shiyilang with a smile and said, "You’re joking, right? How could they be defeated? They are a hundred Holy Domain Warriors, not a hundred cats and dogs. Who on this continent could stand against them? Tell me, who could stop them?"

"Instakill!" The next moment, Xiao Shiyilang spat out two words, "Instakill stopped them!"

Ice Wind Water Soul sneered, "He’s only Level 84, how could he repel a hundred Holy Domain Warriors?"

"No, he’s Level 87 now! In just ten seconds, he leveled up to 87! He could only level up so fast by killing a large number of Holy Domain Warriors!"

Upon hearing this, Ice Wind Water Soul could not help but open the World Rankings to take a look.

The next moment, he saw Huang Yi ranked first, and there was the Level number—

Level 87!

Finally, Ice Wind Water Soul froze, staring blankly at that number, unmoving, as if he had lost his soul.

"Tell me, what on earth happened?" After a long while, Ice Wind Water Soul swallowed hard, barely holding back his emotions, and asked Xiao Shiyilang with a trembling voice.

"Instakill summoned a hundred Holy Domain Warriors as allies. With a surprise attack, it took only about ten seconds to kill sixteen Holy Domain Half-orcs, and then the group of Holy Domain Half-orcs desperately escaped!" Xiao Shiyilang organized the information and replied.

"How could this be! How could this be!" Ice Wind Water Soul closed his eyes, muttering to himself, suddenly feeling the world spinning around him as if everything was upside down.

He turned back and looked at those fifteen million members, saw the excited faces rushing forward like a tide, and the smiles on each player’s face seemed to have turned into mockery.

This largest-ever team in history had become the heaviest burden ever.

At that moment, people in the crowd began receiving messages from friends and relatives, suddenly aware of what had happened at Dragon City. One by one, they were stunned, looking at each other in disbelief.

Gradually, the atmosphere spread throughout the entire team; people everywhere received the message.

"Brother, we must make a choice now!" Xiao Shiyilang said to Ice Wind Water Soul with a heavy tone, "Leading these people to Dragon City is sheer suicide, should we retreat, or what do we do now?"

Ice Wind Water Soul was silent. He had issued many orders to this fifteen million-man army before, with a light tone, full of vigor, easiness. But at this moment, he didn’t know how to issue the next order.

"The Holy Domain Half-Beast assassination failed!"

"Instakill has a group of Holy Domain allies!"

"Those hundred Holy Domain Warriors have fled!"

The team was abuzz with discussion, a ceaseless barrage of noise assailing Ice Wind Water Soul’s eardrums.

"Ding!" Just then, Ice Wind Water Soul received a message. His eyelid twitched. He opened it and read.

After reading the message, Ice Wind Water Soul turned on the all-legion mode and addressed the fifteen million members of the legion, "Everyone! I regret to inform you of some bad news. The one hundred Holy Domain Half-Beastmen have failed! Instakill called in a group of Holy Domain Warriors, and they beat them back!"

At that moment, the entire marching troop finally learned the news, and the progression hesitated for a brief moment!

"But it doesn’t mean we are utterly hopeless, please trust me," Ice Wind Water Soul continued with a smile, "Perhaps those Holy Domain Half-Beastmen have only temporarily withdrawn. They might devise other methods to counter Instakill in a few days. Next, our entire legion will split up to avoid Instakill’s sneak attacks; he isn’t afraid of zerg tactics. I declare that the team will now disperse into units of ten thousand each and search outside the borders of Dragon City to see if we can find those Holy Domain Half-Beastmen. Immediately message me if you find them. with the Holy Domain Half-Beastmen protecting us, Instakill wouldn’t dare to step out of his territory. Then we’ll seize the opportunity to flatten Dragon City."

...

At that moment, Huang Yi had already returned inside Dragon City, walking on the streets, as the one hundred criminals dispersed, freely going about their pursuits within the territory.

From afar, the streets of Dragon City were no longer desolate but suddenly teemed with many people. A massive tide of humanity surged ceaselessly from the direction of the Teleportation Field!

Dragon City had now become the target city for countless players from the Chinese Mainland to teleport to, having just witnessed the situation there through a live broadcast. Now that Dragon City had calmed down, innumerable players teleported here, arriving to see it for themselves.

Soon, Huang Yi reached the top floor of the City Hall. He opened the door and looked inside. By the window stood a graceful figure who seemed to have been waiting for some time.

"Brother Yi!" the figure called out. It was none other than Qin Shiyu.

Moonlight poured down, shining on her, as she stood there motionless, gazing at Huang Yi, her eyes glistening with tears.

"I thought that this time, you were going to reincarnate and I would never see you again," Qin Shiyu said as she walked towards him step by step.

"I won’t die that easily!" Huang Yi walked up to meet her.

Huang Yi took Qin Shiyu’s hand and returned to the window, looking down at Dragon City below, and asked, "How about you? Did you take care of your business?"

"Yes, I took care of it!" Qin Shiyu nodded, "They did have people behind them."

Huang Yi, not at all surprised, asked, "So, who exactly is pulling Ice Wind Water Soul’s strings?"

If anyone else had heard Huang Yi’s words at that time, they would have been very puzzled!

In this assassination incident, the first force to show up was the Anti-Kill Alliance established by Mad Traceless, but before they could gain momentum, they were wiped out by Huang Yi.

Another alliance surfaced afterward to again oppose Huang Yi, displaying significant organization, which indicated someone was manipulating events behind the scenes.

Only a few days ago, the real string-puller—the Wind Kingdom—made its move!

Everyone thought that it was all the Wind Kingdom’s work, that they were the true masterminds.

But Huang Yi still harbored a sliver of doubt. Even the Wind Kingdom shouldn’t have had such influence. The intel sent by the mole he had planted within the Wind Kingdom—Sissy Bro—also suggested that their power was unlikely sufficient for this affair. Moreover, the Guild Leader Ice Wind Water Soul did not seem like someone capable of such an act; it was inconsistent with his operating style and character.

Hence, Huang Yi speculated that there were others lurking in the shadows. The Wind Kingdom was still just a front, established to attract public attention. And Ice Wind Water Soul was merely a pawn, carrying out the wishes of those hidden figures. To outsiders, though, it seemed he was the one behind it all.

That evening, when Huang Yi was interviewed by Wen Tao on the empty streets – in front of billions of viewers – he suddenly had an idea. He decided to use the attention-grabbing opportunity to allow Qin Shiyu to secretly investigate using a special method.

However, not even the other high-ranking members knew about this, only the two of them.

Now, Qin Shiyu had indeed discovered some clues. Ice Wind Water Soul was not the real mastermind; there was someone even more concealed behind him.

At that moment, Qin Shiyu turned to Huang Yi and said slowly, "Based on the method you gave me, I conducted an investigation. The preliminary results indicate that behind Ice Wind Water Soul, it’s likely the Hall of Famous Generals! None of their core high-ranking members have gone offline!"

"So it was them!" Huang Yi suddenly realized. If it was the Hall of Famous Generals, then everything made sense. They were indeed powerful enough, on par with the Xuanyuan Clan.

"Today’s incident originally captured everyone’s attention. Almost all players of The Second World went offline to watch Wen Tao’s broadcast on the forums. However, all the core high-ranking members of the Hall of Famous Generals stayed online, with not a single one going offline to watch. That’s very unusual."

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