"So you’re blaming others for being stronger because you yourself lack power?"
"There are still four Sky Cities left. If anyone is unsatisfied, grab them!"
This situation is similar to when Dawn City first emerged. There were also a bunch of IDs protesting under the banner of ’fairness’, but at that time, humans had just fought a battle with the Wizard Association, so the overall solidarity among players was still strong. Moreover, Dawn City was the first Sky City, and there were a lot of hopes for the future, so the opposition voices were not prominent at that time and were quickly suppressed by louder voices.
However, this time, the situation is not so easy to dismiss. Now, eight of the Twelve Sky Cities have emerged, leaving fewer and fewer opportunities for other countries. The divide is quickly solidifying, not fearing fewer opportunities but fearing inequality. The huge imbalance in the distribution of resources has inevitably led to fractures in the once unified players. From that day onwards, a long and protracted war of words erupted on the forum...
Of course, no matter how fierce the arguments are on the forum, it actually doesn’t have any real impact on the major Sky Cities. After all, who to admit and how many to admit solely depends on the City Lord. Even if you hold a so-called ’universally accepted’ Referendum in your country or internationally, as long as the City Lord doesn’t acknowledge it, it’s all moot.
While the forum is bubbling with debates...
That evening, at K City International Airport.
Five people with briefcases walked out of the airport corridor.
A few people were waiting outside to pick them up. Seeing the targets emerge, they quickly greeted them and bowed to one of them: "Young Master!"
The one they called Young Master was a young man in a white shirt and a deep blue coat, standing at the forefront of the crowd. The young man’s face and figure were slightly thin, with a pair of thin-framed glasses on his nose, a cold and serious expression on his face, and an aura of keep-out all over him.
Kazuya Kusanagi, the predetermined heir of the Wind-Thunder Clan. The Wind-Thunder Clan previously rose from black forces and transformed into the player faction ’Wind-Thunder Gate’ following the emergence of the "Fool". Externally, they claim to be a business organization, but they operate more discreetly and are a less observable mid-tier player power in Japan.
This time, many people from the group came to Celestial Dynasty. The official reason was to establish business contacts and cooperation, but actually, they had another purpose.
"Did you find the information and documents you were ordered to search for?" The young man asked in Japanese.
"Surveillance video, registration files, travel documents, we’ve checked everything we could find. We didn’t find any abnormalities. Gao Ziming did indeed deliberately enter the sea to escape and has since vanished without a trace. It’s most likely that he’s dead, and the Shadow Ghost Box disappeared with him."
The middle-aged man replied, lowering his head: "As for ’No.14’, her whereabouts are still unknown. The two locals from Celestial Dynasty who we arranged to track her have also disappeared near K City’s seafront. I suspect that they might have sensed that we were going to silence them, so they fled K City via the sea in advance."
Upon hearing this, the young man remained silent for a few seconds before suddenly commenting: "The Shadow Ghost disappeared in K City. No.14 also vanished in K City... And all three people related to them disappeared in K City, all of them at the seafront... Don’t you find that all of these are too coincidental?"
The man was momentarily stunned: "Ah, there are some coincidences... But we have already fully inspected the process of the three people’s disappearance. We didn’t find any issues or any suspicious persons."
"This is the Superpower Era now. There are numerous means to evade your way of investigation." The young man shook his head, "Let’s go to the place you’ve arranged for our stay. Bring all the information you’ve found. I want to review it personally."
"You’re going to review all of them? From the beginning?" The middle-aged man seemed incredulous. They had spent an intense week looking over the material they had found, without discovering any issues. Now the young man was going to check it alone, how long would that take?
"Is there a problem?" The young man looked at him.
"Young Master, I suggest we shouldn’t linger in one city for too long, lest we alert the Celestial Dynasty faction... And regarding this matter, based on my many years of living in Celestial Dynasty, I think it’s simply a coincidence. After all, K City is by the sea, making it a very practical and hassle-free escape route. If I were in danger, my first thought would also be to escape via the sea," the middle-aged man said.
"A coincidence, huh..."
The young man murmured to himself: "It had better be a coincidence... But if all of this is a result manipulated by someone, I will unravel the truth and dig you out..."