Published: February 10, 2025
“What's to be done if too many people die?”
The water steward suddenly spoke up, having just snapped out of her daydream.
“Many people are dead?” The white steward coldly scoffed from across the room. “Is this something we need to consider?”
“Of course!” The water steward retorted sharply. “If there are heavy casualties in the brightwater realm, word will get out, and the five rings society will inevitably be slandered as deceiving the world, making them innocent cannon fodder. How can we do business in the future? We worked hard to create the five major rankings and host the brightwater feast for what? A bad reputation?”
Upon hearing such ungracious words, the others fell silent.
They were well aware of this issue; they just chose to overlook it because their focus was elsewhere, or rather, they deliberately ignored this problem.
To them, the lives of ordinary people were not lives; they were simply numbers, mere chips for their interests.
“Can we adjust the difficulty? To prevent them from going to those places?” Elder Ouyang asked as he glanced at Tong Steward.
Tong Steward shook his head. “Each area is basically open. Once they enter the third zone, they will face these challenges. We can't even specifically control where they go. If we want to adjust... do you expect us to bring them all to the second zone like us? But with their strength, they would still end up dead.”
If one were to talk about understanding the brightwater realm, Tong Steward would definitely be at the top. Since he said it this way, there surely wasn't a better solution.
“Let’s try to provide some necessary equipment and supplies. If possible, we can also divulge some information, trying to help them survive a little longer.”
Elder Ouyang sighed and fell silent.
They didn't truly care about the lives of these evolvers; what they cared about was their own reputation.
“Well, let’s think of something happy. The evening session of the crimson arena is about to start. Is there anything more exciting than the sparkling magic crystals?”
The white steward stood up, adjusted his well-fitted suit, touched his bowtie, and then turned his gaze towards the water steward, a hint of enthusiasm flickering in his eyes that hadn’t been there before.
“This time, some of the forces that received invitations did not come.” The water steward seemed to ignore the standing white steward and shifted to the next topic.
Not noticing the rigid expression on the white steward’s face, she continued coldly, “The divine hall didn’t come. We sent them invitations through that channel, but received no response. Their individual combat power ranks first, and their overall strength ranks fourth. The absence of such an organization diminishes the significance of this brightwater feast.”
“The Ten Thousand Beast Manor is absent. Zhang Daqian ranks third in individual combat power and third in overall strength.”
“The old man from the pavilion of quality didn’t come; he just sent his grandson. His strength is decent, but he can’t make it to the top fifty of the combat power rankings.”
“And the Cloud Summit Villa’s people didn’t come, ranking sixth in overall strength and tenth in individual combat power.”
The water steward pointed at the paper in front of her as she spoke, “If it weren’t for the unexpected arrival of Brother Yuan from the wasteland, we wouldn’t even know if this event would be successful.”
After saying this, the water steward, who seemed to be made of water, finally glanced at the white steward. “These are what matter.”
“These don’t matter. There’s your selfish interest in this, isn’t there?” The white steward’s face turned ashen, and his hand, which had reached into his pants pocket, tightly gripped a box.
“Don’t think I don’t know you have an agreement with the Cloud Summit Villa behind the scenes. Their absence this time has left you quite disappointed, hasn’t it?”
The water steward squinted. “I am disappointed with every force that received an invitation but didn’t come here. You should know what the completion of the brightwater realm means to us.”