Chapter 454 Prelude to the Expedition

The meeting has reached this point, and basically, no one questioned whether the news was true anymore.

After all, the information provided by Ling Mo had verifiable evidence, but they couldn’t present much to counter it. And ultimately, even if they didn’t believe in the so-called truth of the world, there were still factors that caught their attention and made them agree with the advance expedition plan—

The evolution speed of demons.

This meeting was significantly more stimulating than the last one, not only because of the revelation of the world’s truth but also because— for the first time, Ling Mo and the others presented a demon that could listen and communicate. This not only proved that demons could coexist peacefully but also represented their strength from a certain standpoint.

Even though the Eagles Alliance did not wield much influence among the major powers, it was undeniable that, so far, only Ling Mo and their group had managed to bring back a powerful demon and make it obey them, while other forces hadn’t even begun to attempt such a feat.

The last meeting ended up discussing exploration efforts; they needed to find a reliable method to investigate those Demon Strongholds so that they wouldn’t go astray during the formal expedition. The more detailed the preliminary investigation, the fewer casualties there would be in the subsequent expedition.

However, before they obtained a reliable method for exploration, no one wanted to take on such thankless work. Therefore, the hosts of this meeting naturally took on the task.

At the time, most people didn’t pay much attention and didn’t really think their actions would be so swift. Even the forces they favored thought it would be impressive if they could produce results within a month—yet they managed to pressure the timeframe down to just a few days.

Of course, this was also related to the fact that Ling Mo and Xia Xinyan had already collected quite a bit of information before—thinking back, it’s quite amusing. On the surface, it seemed that only Eden was enthusiastic about those demons, but in reality, the ones who had been leading the charge in dealing with demons were always the Chicks, or more precisely, always Xia Xinyan and Ling Mo.

After all, Eden didn’t have Monica.

Yet despite their shock, with Summer Jincang’s agreement, they swiftly moved the expedition up by half a month. The remaining discussion revolved around the specific details of the expedition, such as action plans, etc.

But before that, there was still the most crucial task to perform—investigating the Demon Strongholds. With the reliable exploration method provided by Ling Mo, all forces could send people to suspected Demon Strongholds to check the situation, serving as a stepping stone for the expedition.

Moreover, Xia Xinyan didn’t think those forces would slack off. After all, whether the expedition was directly related to the survival of humanity was up for debate, but it definitely pertained to the survival of their own forces. In such circumstances, no one would trust external sources of information fully, so they would naturally send their people to investigate.

Under this premise, it also provided Eden and the Eternal Life Palace with the perfect opportunity to engage in some subterfuge.

Actually, this time releasing Guan Ling was also a calculated gambit. Not to mention what Eternal Life Palace was up to, Eden had long wished to establish a cooperative relationship with demons. However, if Cheng Ming smoothly formed a relationship with demons shortly after setting out, it might raise suspicion among Eden, thinking it had gone too smoothly. Thus, at this moment, releasing news that the Chicks had already formed a cooperative relationship with demons could serve as a smokescreen. They even made Guan Ling act incredibly obedient. If this news reached Eden, it would probably make them think that partnering with demons wasn’t such a rare thing, considering that even such a powerful demon could follow their orders, right?

Moreover, they didn’t mention that Guan Ling was so obedient because she had a bomb collar around her neck—plus, Xia Xinyan had promised her a game console as a reward for cooperating with this operation… cough, and there’s also another critical point, which is that no one in the room had been to Shen City except them, so naturally, only they knew that Guan Ling was actually the King of Shen City. With such a powerful demon willingly becoming their subordinate, if one was unaware of the inside story, the confusion arising from this situation was indeed quite strong.

The meeting lasted a long time.

The main discussion still revolved around the specific plans for the expedition—speaking of which, it was quite similar to a meeting Xia Xinyan had participated in in her previous life. Even when the survival of humanity was at stake, these people were still filled with suspicion and distrust toward each other. The so-called human alliance was, in essence, just a multiplayer solo mission where everyone was playing their own game.

So, the plan ultimately ended with each faction being responsible for scouting their respective areas of intelligence. That’s fine; after all, if something went wrong in matters under their responsibility, it was their misfortune, and no one else had to intervene, thus avoiding any worries about backstabbing.

It’s worth mentioning that, during this meeting, Yanzigui was notably quieter than last time, barely saying a few words. Ling Mo guessed that this old brother was probably sulking as all his original plans had been disrupted by the sudden rescheduling of the expedition, but seeing through the façade without exposing it, now that the net was laid, they were just waiting for someone to take the bait.

In the following days, everyone got busy.

With almost every faction fully mobilized, the Dark Zone became unusually lively. Although the expedition had not yet been publicly announced, the mobilization of all forces led to the ordinary people feeling that something significant was about to occur. Numerous discussions online began to surface regarding these matters, and with some internal leaks, the so-called expedition— where all factions planned to unite and counterattack the Dark Zone— gradually spread.

This even deepened the subdued atmosphere in reality. Outsiders, while unclear about why the invasion incident had occurred, didn’t quite grasp the connection between the Dark Zone and the real world, nor did they understand why those factions suddenly reached a consensus to mount a counterattack. However, they all understood that dying in the Dark Zone meant real death and not an opportunity to respawn. Thus, rather than a simple server-wide reclamation war, this was more akin to a world war.

Moreover, the demons in the Dark Zone, both in terms of numbers and power, were almost impossible to quantify. Even if all factions teamed up, could they truly win this expedition?

Most importantly, how many sacrifices would this expedition entail?

No one could speculate on these matters.

All they could realize was that something big was about to happen.

While panic could hardly be called by name, for the first time, the reality world was permeated by an atmosphere of oppression.

As if… they were about to welcome the apocalypse.

   

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