Qiao Yifeng had a haggard looking appearance and one glance was suffice to tell Chen Xiaolian that he was facing a huge problem. Chen Xiaolian turned serious.
The two of them had already settled on an agreement. But now, Father Qiao had suddenly asked him to go with him to Zero City. Additionally, he had done so in such an anxious manner. How could Chen Xiaolian not worry?
Chen Xiaolian considered this matter. Given Qiao Yifeng’s position, a matter that could make him so anxious meant that his guild, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild had encountered a huge problem!
Having reached that line of thought, Chen Xiaolian’s eyebrows knitted together as he looked at Qiao Yifeng.
Qiao Yifeng took a deep breath as he looked back at Chen Xiaolian. Then, he said in a low tone, “Chen Xiaolian.”
His tone this time was somewhat more gentle.
This was the first time that Chen Xiaolian had heard him using such a soft and gentle tone.
Qiao Yifeng stood up, his eyes continued staring at Chen Xiaolian as he whispered, “Although you might not like to hear these words, I must still say them again.”
Chen Xiaolian sighed. “Say it then.”
“Back in Africa, I had set you up. That one is on me. However, as a parent… these thoughts of mine, even if I don’t say it out, you will still come to understand them someday. To struggle within this game, there is no telling when that guild of yours would encounter an accident and end up getting annihilated.
“I’m not merely trying to break up a pair of loved ones. If you are an ordinary person who treats Qiao Qiao well, I will not go this far to stop you two. I am not the type of parent that sees only money.
“However, the relationship between you and Qiao Qiao is not merely about love.”
Chen Xiaolian nodded his head and said, “I understand.”
“Qiao Qiao is determined to follow you, but that means putting her body and life in the same boat as yours. She is determined to continue to be a part of your guild. But for me, her father, that is simply using her life to gamble. As a parent, can I not take action to stop her? Since you two refused to listen to my advice, I could only take action and use underhanded means.
“And thus, the incident in Africa happened.
“I am not someone who has a vicious heart. Back then, I saw you as a disaster threatening my daughter’s life.”
Chen Xiaolian continued to nod his head. “I understand.”
“In Africa, you were lucky. Be it your strength or whatnot, you ended up acquiring the mine. Thus, I changed my mind. In your eyes, I am probably someone who only cares about benefits. Seeing that you now have the mine, my desire for the mine made me bow my head down to you and want to form a partnership with you. I allowed you to be together with Qiao Qiao, my own daughter in exchange for the mine.
“That is probably what you thought about me, right?”
Chen Xiaolian was silent.
That was indeed what he had thought.
Qiao Yifeng sneered and a sharp glint flashed out from his eyes as he barked out, “What kind of person am I, Qiao Yifeng? Would I use my own daughter in exchange for some benefit? I am not even afraid of death, would I betray my own daughter? There is nothing in this world that could make me use my own daughter as a tool of exchange!”
Hearing that made Chen Xiaolian slightly surprised. He looked at Qiao Yifeng and asked, “Mm? If so, why did you agree to my request back in Africa?”
“For one reason,” said Qiao Yifeng with a sigh. He slowly said, “After you acquired the mine, I carefully considered it. Although your guild’s strength is weak, using the mine as a foundation and the external support from me, you might be able to continue surviving. With that, your guild would be able to rise quickly within a short span of time. Thus, even though Qiao Qiao is with you, the degree of danger that she faces would be greatly reduced as well.
“Moreover, she has stubbornly decided to follow you.
“Since I cannot stop her, I can only acquiesce.
“At the end of the day, I, Qiao Yifeng is not someone who will sell his daughter for the sake of the mine that you have.
“Rather, by having the mine, you now have enough strength to develop your guild and protect my daughter. That is why I agreed to have you two be together again.”
Hearing that, Chen Xiaolian was silent for quite a while. Then, he slowly raised his head and looked at Qiao Yifeng. “All right, since you’ve said that, then I will believe you.”
Qiao Yifeng waved with his hand. “You trusting me or not doesn’t matter. Even if you think of me as someone who would sell off my daughter for the sake of the development of my guild, I don’t mind. The reason I am telling you these is not because I want you to understand my difficulties.”
“Then why?” asked Chen Xiaolian with a frown.
“There has been some changes to the situation,” answered Qiao Yifeng with a sigh.
“Changes?”
Qiao Yifeng straightened himself and slowly walked to Chen Xiaolian’s side. “I had said this before. But now, I must say it again.
“Would you be willing to join my Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild?
“As long as you are willing, I will accept the other members of your guild as well!
“After joining Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, you can still be together with Qiao Qiao. As her father, I will not stop the love between you two!
“Since you two youngsters are willing to be together, then you should be together.
“Give up on that nameless little guild of yours and join Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild!
“Wouldn’t that be killing two birds with one stone?”
Chen Xiaolian stared at Qiao Yifeng. “Are you going back on your words right now?”
“Not going back on my words. I am just giving you an advice, a very heartfelt advice!”
Chen Xiaolian’s face turned dark and he said, “Mr Qiao, this action of yours…”
“Don’t get angry and just let me finish first.” Qiao Yifeng sighed. He turned back to the sofa and sat back down. Lighting himself another piece of cigarette, he then took two puffs from it. As the smoke from the cigarette swirled in the air, a deeply fatigued look appeared in his bloodshot eyes.
“There has been a huge change to the situation.” There were helplessness and dejection within Qiao Yifeng’s tone. “I had indeed made you a promise you back in Africa. However, things had changed.
“Back when we had met up in Africa, I thought that since you have the mine, your potential for growth will be big despite its present small state. Add the power of my Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild to the equation and you would be able to quickly rise up the ranks.
“By getting the mine, you had stolen food from a pack of tigers. You had stolen the food belonging to guilds like the Rodriar Guild. However, as long as I protect you, as long as Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild steps forward, this matter could be dealt with.
“You will be able to safely sit on the mine, get its benefits and enhance your guilds’ strength.
“Everyone would be able to go on with their lives. It’s that kind of ending.
“But now, things are different.”
Chen Xiaolian frowned and said, “Where exactly is the difference?”
An expression of profound sorrow appeared on Qiao Yifeng’s eyes. The old man had actually allowed the feeling to leak out on his face; or rather, he had no way to stop the feeling from showing on his face.
“I fear that Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild is about to collapse.”
…
Bang!
Nicole’s palm slammed heavily on the wall.
She was presently standing before the door to the fitness centre. Seeing that the door was still locked, she became vexed.
It’s been a few days now. Look like those fellows had really abandoned this place?
They are just going to wipe their ass and leave without a trace?
If so, does that mean my efforts here to get close to them had all gone down the drain?
Earlier, Nicole had been able to get Yu Jiajia’s phone number.
However, after trying to call her the last two days, she found that the other party had their phone closed off.
This made Nicole even more anxious.
And then there was Roddy… that bastard.
Nicole had spent the last few days hiding her identity while getting close to them. Yet, Roddy had been avoiding her as one would avoid a plague. He had also not been picking up her calls. Whenever she called, he would just turn off her call.
What was Nicole supposed to do with her face?
And then there was Chen Xiaolian.
Nicole also had Chen Xiaolian’s phone number. However, it was not right to recklessly call him.
She was presently taking on the identity as ‘Little Ye from next door’. Generally speaking, they weren’t exactly close to each other. She also had no excuse to just suddenly call him.
But there was a problem. If those fellows had truly abandoned this fitness centre and left, where would she go to find them?
How was she going to find a suitable excuse to get close to them?
Nicole could not be blamed for being so anxious.
After making that trip to Zero City and finding out about that information, she returned to approach Chen Xiaolian and his group.
Having found out that Qiao Qiao and Soo Soo were Qiao Yifeng’s daughters, it was only natural for Nicole, who knew of Qiao Yifeng’s identity to figure out what was going on.
However, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild was in hot soup!
If there was too deep of a relationship between Chen Xiaolian and those people…
Damn it! How could those kids understand! The waters of Zero City are not easy to steer through!
Nicole was not too concerned about the life and death of others. However, she must save Roddy.
For some special reason, perhaps it was a reason that she herself was not aware of, Nicole did not want to reveal her identity right now.
However, she could not simply watch as those fellows walk into danger.
After thinking about that, Nicole sighed.
She pulled out a stack of mobile phone cards from her pocket. Casually pulling one out, she inserted the card into her phone.
Putting in a number that she was very familiar with, she then typed out a message and sent it over.
Chen Xiaolian who was gaping at Qiao Yifeng suddenly felt his mobile phone vibrating.
He subconsciously pulled it out from his pocket and checked it.
An unknown number.
However, when he looked at it, he became stunned. His mind was rocked!
“Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild is about to meet their end! Regardless of what your connection to them might be, I advise you to stay away from them! If you don’t want to die, don’t enter the muddy waters!”
Chen Xiaolian gaped as he read the message on his mobile phone’s screen.
Qiao Yifeng who was before him slowly spoke out in a hoarse voice, “Our guild has encountered a huge obstacle. This time, it appears that our chances of breaking through are slim.”
Chen Xiaolian’s body shuddered!
This message from the unknown number, who had sent it?
“We might have our seat on the Board of Patriarchs taken away from us.” Qiao Yifeng said without showing any expression. “You are not someone from Zero City. So, it will be very hard for you to understand just how critical the seat in the Board of Patriarchs is to the resident guilds of Zero City.
“Losing the seat means losing the qualification to obtain the quests given by Zero City. That also means losing the additional allocation. After that, unless something miraculous happens, the guild will slowly decline and end up perishing.
“Perhaps the declining process would be a very long one. However, the situation is one that is very hard to turn around.
“What I mean to say is, once we lose our seat on the Board of Patriarchs, I will have no way to protect your guild anymore.
“I am referring to the mine!
“My original plan was to announce within Zero City that the mine had fallen to an external force who is on my, Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild’s side. That is one way of giving them an explanation.
“In accordance with the rules of Zero City, the other guilds will not be allowed to pursue this matter anymore.
“However, things will change once we lose our seat in the Board of Patriarchs.
“When that happens, in accordance to the rules of Zero City, all of our ‘additional allocation’ must be handed over. We are only allowed to keep the essential quota. We’ll be left to struggle at Death’s door.
“The same goes for the C11 mine. The Board of Patriarchs will certainly demand us to hand it over. We must either give up the yield from the mine or sell it to them at a low price.
“Most importantly, there is a real risk that the identity of the mine’s owner will be exposed.
“That is why I want you to join Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild.
“Although we might lose our seat on the Board of Patriarchs, we can still maintain our position as a resident guild.
“As long as you become a member of my guild, the other resident guilds will not be able to trouble you. Even if there are private grudges between you and them, by staying in Zero City, you will be protected.
“Chen Xiaolian, believe me.
“Once Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild loses its qualification for the seat…
“We will no longer be able to protect your mine.
“As for you, you people will not be able to protect the mine by yourselves! You won’t even be able to protect yourselves!”