Heroes' Prison

Chapter 379 - 371 The Final Ultimatum

"Do you think they could guess that we are the true culprits behind this?" Guan Yu turned his head to look at Zhuge Liang.

"This question is actually meaningless." Zhuge Liang shook his head, "Even if he guessed it, it would be useless. We haven’t left any effective evidence, so they can only stay in the realm of conjecture."

"But Instakill, that guy, never talks about evidence. He just acts on his intuition. That time when Dragon City was besieged, Qin Shiyu was murdered, and without any evidence, Instakill was adamant that it was Feng Zhi’s doing and directly slaughtered their thirty thousand men. People like him are the scariest; once he suspects you, he’ll deal with you head-on." Guan Yu also shook his head, not agreeing with Zhuge Liang’s words.

"He wouldn’t dare do anything to us. His Hero Guild wanting to take us on would just result in a mutually detrimental outcome; he’s not that foolish. My only concern now is Ice Wind Water Soul. His pride is immense, and having suffered such a huge defeat this time, he’s bound to want to find a way to win back some face. However, his guild has already been crippled, and without any power under his command, I fear he will cling to us, asking us to help him seek revenge. At that time, we will be unable to shake him off like a sticky plaster."

"Yes, I’m worried about him too. I thought for sure he could pull this off, but it turned out to be a failure in the end." Guan Yu sighed, "And coincidentally, we’re at this critical stage of going public. If he turns around and bites us, letting Instakill target us, it will undoubtedly have an adverse effect on our IPO. In my view, we might as well give him a sum of money to keep his mouth shut until after we go public. Even if he spills the beans about the matter then, it will be too late."

"It seems we have no other choice. We were a bit careless. If we hadn’t stepped in directly, but instead found a middleman to negotiate this matter with him from the beginning, we wouldn’t be in such a big trouble now."

"Blame it on Zhang Fei, Ice Wind Water Soul is his classmate. It was him who directly approached Ice Wind Water Soul for this cooperation. As a result, we were immediately put in a passive position. He’s just as impulsive as Zhang Fei."

"What happens next depends on the response from the Half-beastmen Holy Land. If they dispatch Celestial Realm experts to assassinate Instakill, then all our worries will be for naught. Instakill will surely be killed back to level 1 and pose no further threat to us. We could even swallow up that port he spent a fortune building—a juicy piece of fat."

...

At this moment, not only the Hall of Famous Generals but all powers and players across the world were waiting for the next move from the Half-beastmen Holy Domain. Over eighty percent believed that the Half-beastmen Holy Domain would send Celestial Realm experts. This was the last resort of the Half-beastmen Holy Domain.

And once that announcement rang out, it would be tantamount to declaring the demise of Huang Yi, the God of Slaughter.

That night, the long-anticipated announcement finally echoed across the world—

"[System Announcement]: [God of Slaughter] has murdered several Holy Domain Warriors of the Half-beastmen Holy Domain, inciting the thunderous fury of the central continent Half-beastmen Holy Land. Bloodthirster Man Tian (Level 203), one of the Four Great Protectors, has personally gone to the Mainland China Zone to pursue and kill [God of Slaughter]."

Just when everyone thought this announcement had ended, another burst forth from the heavens—

"[System Announcement]: The Half-beastmen Holy Domain issues a final ultimatum; if [God of Slaughter] commits suicide to level 1 within ten days, the Half-beastmen Holy Domain will revoke the death warrant."

The Half-beastmen Holy Domain clearly understands the carrot and stick approach—first releasing news of a Celestial Realm Expert’s pursuit as a threat, followed by an ultimatum to coax Huang Yi into choosing suicide.

Suicide is definitely better than being murdered, as it allows for more freedom. One could remove all equipment and store it in a storage ring before taking one’s own life, avoiding the risk of dropping gear, with only the loss of levels, which can be regained later. Furthermore, suicide would seem more dignified, finding a secret place where no one can see.

Being hunted down by a Celestial Realm expert, on the other hand, would be quite embarrassing. It’d mean being publicly tortured without a shred of dignity.

The Half-beastmen Holy Domain must have considered the complex power dynamics of the Central Continent and the risks involved in dispatching Celestial Realm experts, hence they issued such an ultimatum, hoping Huang Yi would handle it himself and save them the trouble.

Now, he has only ten days left to make a choice.

"Brother Yi, what do you plan to do?" Inside the City Hall of Fengdu at that moment, Lang Ge looked at Huang Yi and asked, "If it were me, I’d choose suicide. At worst, it’d take me half a year to get back where I was. With so many strong brothers in the Hero Guild, they’ll all help you level grind. The time you spend will be even less, and this would be the least loss."

"If I do that, everything I’ve done before will be for nothing," Huang Yi shook his head, "There are still ten days left, enough time for many things to happen."

...

Far away in Dragon City, Huang Yi’s true body and Qin Shiyu also stood at the window on the top floor of City Hall, gazing down at the scenery of Dragon City below, as a tense atmosphere filled the air.

"Brother Yi, if that Celestial Realm Expert comes to attack, do you have a way to deal with it?" Qin Shiyu turned her head, her beautiful eyes fixed on Huang Yi, and asked with concern.

"A good method, I don’t have at the moment. A bad one, though, I do have." Huang Yi stroked his chin, and the night breeze came in, blowing his hair aside to reveal those deep eyes that matched the night sky above.

"So what are you going to do next?" Qin Shiyu tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear, mussed by the wind.

Huang Yi turned around, while helping Qin Shiyu tidy up her hair, he said, "Next, I need to check out that treasure of Leizes. It’s a major treasure, I want to see what treasures are within. After I explore that treasure, I should leave the Hero Guild. Then, you’ll take charge of the overall situation. As for me, I can concentrate on dealing with that Celestial Realm Expert."

"What if that Celestial Realm Expert still comes to attack Dragon City?" Qin Shiyu frowned slightly, her voice tinged with worry.

"Don’t worry about it," Huang Yi shook his head, "If that Celestial Realm Expert is bent on leveling Dragon City, then you take all the valuable things, disperse our members to other cities. That Celestial Realm Expert won’t have the spare effort to hunt down each one. After destroying Dragon City, they are bound to leave. Dragon City is just our Sub-territory, and also a city we picked up; its destruction is of no major consequence. The outside world has no idea where our Main Territory is; there’s no way for them to annihilate our Guild."

"Even so, it’s still a bit of a pity. Look how beautiful this city is. This is the city where we met, where on many nights, we’ve overlooked this beautiful nightscape. The thought that I might never see this place again still hurts a bit," said Qin Shiyu, her elegant brows faintly dimmed, looking rather pitiable.

With that, Qin Shiyu turned her head to glance at Huang Yi’s face.

At this moment, as the bright moon began to rise outside the window, the clear moonlight poured in, casting a resolute silhouette on Huang Yi’s face. She couldn’t help but reach out to touch it, her hand gentle as if boneless, passing over his cheek, she whispered soulfully, "If you are reincarnated to another continent, we’ll be apart for at least several months."

Huang Yi turned his head to look at Qin Shiyu but remained silent. The air quieted down, leaving only the sound of their breathing.

...

The next day, Huang Yi went to the canteen for breakfast on time.

"Ah-Yi, can you still hold on this time? This time it’s a Celestial Realm Expert making a move!" Thunder God asked Huang Yi while eating breakfast.

"I don’t have absolute confidence," Huang Yi shook his head, "This time, I plan to dance on the edge of a knife, to use a very dangerous method to deal with that Celestial Realm Expert.

"By the way, Brother Yi, you mentioned yesterday to Ice Wind Water Soul that there’s a true villain behind him, who is it actually? The forums are going crazy, Poet is guessing it’s the Hall of Famous Generals, Wen Tao guesses it’s our Sun Guild, Heartless Reminiscence guesses it’s the Styx Sect," Tang Yunfei asked curiously.

"Poet guessed correctly, it’s the Hall of Famous Generals," Huang Yi sipped his porridge, although this was merely his own speculation without any solid evidence.

"So it’s them, they’re about to go public soon, probably trying to make a splash with this incident," nodded Tang Yunfei, "But now that they’ve failed, if Ice Wind Water Soul is willing to reveal the Hall of Famous Generals behind him, that would be detrimental to their IPO. Making an enemy of you is something all their shareholders would want to avoid. And it happens that our Sun Guild is also going public soon, we’ll be in direct competition with them. Their disadvantage is our biggest advantage."

"Hm? You guys are going public so soon?" Huang Yi was slightly taken aback, he had been busy dealing with assassination bounties these past days and hadn’t paid attention to the Sun Guild’s affairs.

"Yes!" Thunder God nodded, "Our’s prison has too many talents in the financial sector, with broad connections outside. This time we’ve incorporated the Sun Guild into the assets of a company owned by a friend of Tang Yunfei, and all the paperwork is already completed. It’s not us going public, precisely, it’s that friend of Tang Yunfei’s company. With our strong network, going public will face little resistance. Moreover, with such an excellent asset as the Sun Guild possessing limitless potential, our current valuation is Five Hundred Billion US Dollars, while the Hall of Famous Generals is One Trillion US Dollars."

"However, give us some more time, and the valuation will be different," Tang Yunfei shook his head slightly, "We have already created a miracle this time, achieving a valuation of Five Hundred Billion US Dollars in just a short time, thanks largely to our Deep Sea Battleship, earning twentyfold profits on a single voyage, directly leading to a surge in our valuation." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote with Recommendation Tickets and Monthly Tickets at Starting Point (qidian.com). Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please go to m.qidian.com to read.)