Chapter Seventy-Three: The Battle Fish Strikes!

“There were two attacks in the Peach Blossom Villa District—Yi Qinfeng’s house and Zhao Nanxing’s place were both pretty much blown to bits. Hilarious, I told you we shouldn’t go out these days.”
“I suggest a thorough investigation.”
“Looks like Anqing was hit too. They’re just going after each other at this point.”
“What about Qi Guyi’s side? The Eastern District seems quiet. My money’s on Qi Guyi coming out on top.”
“All anyone ever talks about is Peach Blossom Villas—can’t we have some new threads? Isn’t the chaos enough? Do we really have to drag everyone into this?”
“And where’s the Warfish big shot? Weren’t fights supposed to be off-limits? This is a slap in the face—maybe he should step in personally.”

Jingmen Safe Zone Forum.

Because the attack hadn’t happened late at night, and everyone had already sensed the peace wouldn’t last, as soon as the incident broke, the forums immediately filled with sarcasm and mockery.

After all, the task force and Jingbei Industries had been releasing statements one after another, hoping to reassure the public, telling everyone it was safe to go out and explore.

Yet, even after Warfish made an appearance, incidents kept cropping up daily. Even the monopoly investigation into Jingbei Industries from a few days ago had ground to a halt.

With things like this, who could possibly feel at ease?

Was this just another case of much thunder, little rain?

All of these factors together instantly wiped away whatever deterrence Warfish’s earlier intervention had created, dropping it to rock-bottom.

Some even began to doubt whether Warfish had truly made a move all this time—did he still possess that formidable strength of old?

Yi Shen’s house, meanwhile, had indeed been left in ruins.

Lin Grape had come by several times to check on him, worried that Yi Shen might be traumatized and telling him not to be afraid.

But Yi Shen wasn’t afraid at all.

He had even managed to take down one of the attackers himself.

As he looked at the shattered villa, Yi Shen’s thoughts wandered far afield.

Today’s battle had left a deep impression on him.

Especially after witnessing the fight between Jiang Jinying and the mysterious assailant, Yi Shen became increasingly aware that, beyond their attributes, there was still a significant gap between himself and those like her.

His stats now were hardly lower than the level-fifty explorers, but if he didn’t use his skills, he couldn’t possibly achieve the fluidity Jiang Jinying had shown in battle.

In fact, if he hadn’t made clever use of the corridor’s layout to limit the stealth attacker’s movement, he might not have been able to keep the intruder at all!

Yi Shen felt his own control over his body was still sorely lacking. If only he could match their reaction speed and command, his strength would surely rise to a whole new level.

And these people were only around level sixty. What about those who had reached the seventies, or even higher? Just how strong would those explorers be?

This line of thinking rekindled a sense of crisis within him.

But what Yi Shen hadn’t expected was that, by the very next morning, he would be confronted, abruptly and directly, with the true power of high-tier explorers.

Perhaps the debacle of the previous night’s battle had finally bruised the authorities’ pride. The elusive Warfish, a member of the task force who had never shown his hand, finally took action.

No one knew exactly what means he employed.

But before six in the morning, the authorities publicly announced that all those involved in the previous night’s attacks had been either captured or killed.

They even attached a full list of the attackers’ information, laying everything bare.

The entire Jingmen Safe Zone was thrown into an uproar and shock.

Uproar, because among those Warfish had taken down were three high-level explorers—bounty hunters from the Hanzhong Safe Zone, all above level sixty and quite well-known even in their own territory. Yet, in less than six hours after Warfish made his move, they were all captured.

Shock, because aside from those three high-level explorers, Warfish had also rooted out a few local “rats” within the Jingmen Safe Zone.

One of the most important among them was a hall master from Riverguild.

This hall master was no small figure—a core member of Riverguild’s main faction, and yet he’d participated in the previous night’s attack and was slain outright by Warfish.

For a guild, the loss of a level-sixty-plus explorer was no small matter.

But within half an hour, Riverguild issued a statement declaring the hall master’s actions were personal and had nothing to do with the guild—every word tinged with deference toward Warfish.

Meanwhile, all the guild leaders and officials received a single message:

If any such attack happens again, Warfish will personally investigate to the end.

No more large-scale battles would be tolerated in the city. He specifically named the Peach Blossom Villa incident, declaring that clandestine use of force would no longer be allowed.

…

“So Warfish finally made his move. After all this time, he’s still as formidable as ever,” said Chen Yuan, the guild master of Blood Reaver, in their headquarters.

He’d followed the events of the previous night and had been among the first to rush to the scene, trying to intercept the assassins.

But he hadn’t expected Warfish to intervene himself. With just two sword strokes, he’d dispatched a seasoned Blood Hunter and even took out their Flesh Beast in one stroke.

The Blood Hunter was a bounty hunter from the Hanzhong Safe Zone, and the night before had been pressing Jiang Jinying hard in battle.

But in front of Warfish, he hadn’t lasted two rounds.

The people in the conference room fell silent at the result.

“He’s a level-seventy powerhouse. Back in the day, his reputation was no less than Qi Lei’s. I heard he even spent a few years near the coast—he’s probably left us all far behind by now,” Jiang Jinying said with a sigh.

Blood Reaver had ambitions to rise and prosper.

But after seeing Warfish in action, she felt an inexplicable sense of helplessness.

“He’s probably surpassed the boundary now. I heard he didn’t want to get involved, but Uncle Lei said things in the Jingmen Safe Zone couldn’t be allowed to spiral further, so Warfish had no choice but to step in,” Shi Yao said hesitantly.

Hearing this, the others lapsed into an even deeper silence.

Shi Yao was one of the few in the Safe Zone who still had access to Qi Lei.

If she said Warfish was taking things seriously, Blood Reaver would have to toe the line from now on. Their foundation was still too thin—they’d only been established for a short time.

Fortunately, Warfish and Qi Lei had already severed their ties with Jingbei Industries and cut off all guild-level connections. Otherwise, no matter how much Blood Reaver accumulated over the next decade, they would never catch up to Jingbei’s pace.