Chapter 393 Prelude to the Expedition

Xia Xinyan went to find Summer Jincang.

Upon seeing Xia Xinyan approach, Summer Jincang was a bit surprised, “Xinyan? Why are you here? I was just about to look for you.”

“Is there something up?” Xia Xinyan asked.

He really was coming to find her.

But clearly, he hadn’t expected her to come over first.

Summer Jincang paused for a moment and nodded, “There is something. I… wanted to discuss the Chicks with you.”

“What do you want to talk about? Go ahead,” Xia Xinyan sat down on the sofa.

Summer Jincang pondered for a bit and sat down on the nearby single sofa: “So, I want to talk about the Chicks.”

After a second pause, he continued, “I have to admit, the Chicks are… indeed quite impressive now. You must have contributed quite a bit, right?”

Xia Xinyan shook her head, “No, pretty much everything is handled by Ling Mo and the others.”

She really has mostly been slacking off.

Summer Jincang’s expression looked a bit strained for a second, as if he hadn’t expected that answer.

It might also be that he had anticipated it long ago but was still unwilling to accept it.

After all, he and Ling Mo have never seen eye to eye, and that guy even ran off with his sister. Though aware that the guy was indeed capable, getting Summer Jincang to admit it personally was still a bit difficult.

Mainly, it was a mental hurdle.

Seeing him silent, Xia Xinyan was about to leave, “Is that all you wanted to ask?”

“There’s more!” Summer Jincang spoke up immediately, then hesitated for two seconds before reluctantly stating, “Have you… have the Chicks and the Eagles Alliance considered uniting with other powers?”

Xia Xinyan paused, “What kind of uniting? You want the Chicks to merge under your banner? That’s not happening.”

“Of course not,” Summer Jincang shook his head, since the words had already come out, he decided to stop dwelling on it, “It’s a cooperative relationship on equal footing, including New Dawn, the Ability Bureau, the Eternal Life Palace, Storm and so on. A collaborative relationship within this big circle.”

Xia Xinyan thought for a moment and asked, “Why the sudden push for cooperation?”

“We’re planning to counterattack the Dark Zone.” Summer Jincang’s expression turned serious, “The disaster in Linjiang City a while back absolutely won’t be the last. In the future, it’s very likely that such disasters will become the norm. At that time, none of us will be able to hold on, so it’s best to thoroughly deal with the root trouble before we reach that stage.”

After a one-second pause, he asked, “As long as we wipe out all the Demon Strongholds in the Dark Zone, there shouldn’t be any more invasion incidents in reality, right?”

Xia Xinyan remembered she had mentioned before that those demons appearing in reality were all from the Dark Zone, so it wasn’t hard to draw that conclusion.

Hearing his words, Xia Xinyan was taken aback.

The joint expedition from her last life!

It’s actually come early this time…

She remembered the impetus for the joint expedition was the destruction of a city, as if it presented a glimpse of an imminent future, prompting them to unite for an expedition against the Dark Zone, to clear out all the demons and completely resolve the core issues.

It’s only in times of danger that truly threatens everyone’s survival that humanity would band together—at least in appearance.

And Xia Xinyan, she had died in that expedition back in her last life.

She could say she was the only one in this world who had seen the true strongholds and scale of the demons, fully aware of how horrifying those demons truly were. This time, the expedition had come much earlier than in her last life, and the strength of the expeditionary force was likely inadequate compared to the last time. If they acted recklessly again, the outcome would probably not fare much better than before.

Taking a deep breath, she asked, “What about the others? Have they decided?”

“Not yet, this is still just a plan. Other powers basically all have this intention, but how to act is still being finalized,” Summer Jincang said.

“That’s good,” Xia Xinyan locked eyes with Summer Jincang for a moment and suddenly asked, “Do you think this operation will succeed?”

Summer Jincang was somewhat attentive to the emotion she had just revealed, and hearing her ask, he couldn’t help but question, “Is there a problem?”

“There’s a big problem,” Xia Xinyan nodded, “With the current state, adding more people will just lead to more death.”

Summer Jincang was taken aback.

He still remembered Xia Xinyan’s previous predictions, almost all of which had come true. This was one point he couldn’t see through about his sister. He didn’t know how she knew those things, but everyone had their secrets, and since she was his sister, he naturally wouldn’t pry too deep.

But, when his sister said this, did it mean the danger in the Dark Zone was much larger than they thought?

“What does Xinyan know?” he asked.

Xia Xinyan didn’t hide it from him: “The Dark Zone is a world belonging to demons. You can imagine that recent disaster if the roles of demons and humans were reversed—how much chance do you think we would have?”

In that recent disaster, humans significantly outnumbered the demons, but those truly capable of fighting could barely reach one-tenth. Even on their home turf, things were this difficult, let alone going into the demons’ territory—at that point, they would be the “demons” invading the city, while each “citizen” in the city possessed enough strength to fight against ordinary players.

Summer Jincang quickly grasped this point and couldn’t help but frown, “So we can only wait like this?”

Xia Xinyan thought for a moment and replied, “It’s not like there’s no way to counter it; I’ll see what I can think of.”

She had participated in that expedition and had a basic understanding of the major strongholds of the demons. If she prepared in advance, plus having Ling Mo with them… If worse came to worst, they could bring Monica along too. Given humanity’s current strength, they might really be able to give it a shot.

However, there was only one chance to try. If they failed, that would pretty much mean a death sentence for this world, so she had to think it through carefully.

Seeing this, Summer Jincang didn’t ask anything further: “Alright, I’ll go talk to the others and ask them to wait a bit.”

“Then it’s settled. I’ll contact you once there’s an answer,” leaving this line, Xia Xinyan left.

Since they had come this far, many things had to be prepared in advance.

Especially the Eagles… their actions had to speed up as well.

But before that, she needed to find Ling Mo.

She had a feeling her parents deliberately tried to steer her away to say something they shouldn’t to Ling Mo.

However, before she made it back home, she saw Ling Mo smiling as her parents sent him out.

Seeing her approach, her mom immediately smiled, “Xiao Mo was just about to come find you. Alright, that’s it for today. I heard you all are quite busy, so your dad and I won’t keep you.”

Ling Mo smiled and bid farewell to them, then came over to take Xia Xinyan away.

Xia Xinyan felt a bit dazed.

The scene was quite different from what she had imagined.