Chapter 333: Welcoming Banquet

Chapter 333: Welcoming BanquetFang Yi's words, logical and reasonable, did seem more plausible than Zhuo Yihong and Xia Na's baseless hypothesis. The crowd quickly arrived at the special forces' underground barracks, where Zhuo Yihong and Xia Na led them to Zhang Lie's small cottage.

By then, Zhang Lie had been waiting in the cottage for quite some time. He had been planning to welcome his teammates himself, but considering the fiasco he had caused recently, he ultimately chose to leave Zhuo Yihong and Xia Na responsible for welcoming them instead. Sᴇaʀch* Thᴇ N0vᴇlFire(.)nᴇt website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of nøvels early and in the highest quality.

He beckoned them in; everyone sat surrounding a small table within his cottage.

As Zhang Lie glanced at the six members of Team Zenith, he couldn't help but laugh. "I'm glad the process I proposed really worked. How did it go?"

Fang Yi and Sun Mengmeng glanced at Zhuo Yihong and Xia Na, then murmured, "Captain, the process was actually very successful, and I think..."

Zhuo Yihong and Xia Na understood what was going on. Looking around, they quickly got up and turned to leave, but Zhang Lie stopped them. "Don't worry, they're not outsiders. You can tell us all."

Xia Na, Qin Tian, and Zhuo Yihong all turned to Zhang Lie with a look of gratitude. It was obvious that Fang Yi was about to discuss how the members of Team Zenith had all managed to gather at Qi after ascending to the second realm, and this would surely be top secret information. It was natural that they would have to be sent away in light of this information, especially since they hadn't been in Zhang Lie's team for long, but Zhang Lie actually called them back.

He chose to believe in them, and he really was treating them like part of his group.

With Zhang Lie's approval, Fang Yi continued, "Everything went according to plan, up until the transferral to the second realm: we arrived in the second realm directly above Qi."

Zhang Lie cocked his head. "The skies above Qi? You didn't pass through the Tianfeng Valley?"

"No, we didn't. The moment we opened our eyes, we were a thousand meters up in the sky, with Qi directly below us," Fang Yi replied.

"Hmm. How did you manage to suborn the will of the world?"

"As you suggested, Captain, we resisted the will of the world until it used up so much of its energy that it had to accede to our will, forming a teleportation array that brought us to Qi."

Zhuo Yihong, Xia Na, and Qin Tian were all stupefied by what Fang Yi had mentioned. They had all undergone the ascension process from the first to the second realm, but did Fang Yi say that he and the other members of Team Zenith had opposed the will of the world—and that they had somehow forced it to consume so much energy that it had had to accede to their demands?

The will of the world was the god of the first realm! What Fang Yi was saying was that they had essentially challenged a god and even succeeded! No wonder Zhang Lie didn't care about assembling a troop from the special forces—Team Zenith was all he would need!

Fortunately, Zhang Lie had eventually relented, and now they were part of his team too.

Zhang Lie laughed. "It teleported you away out of exasperation? That's a little different from what happened to me. I suspect that's the source of the issue—perhaps intentionally or otherwise, it failed to lock on to the correct coordinates for Qi."

Sun Mengmeng nodded in assent. "I think so too. The will of the world seemed surprisingly weak to me, and I suspect that it had been weakened because of the incursion of the disaster-grade lifeform and from your battle with it."

Zhang Lie nodded as well. "In that case, we've basically figured out the strategy to remove the randomness from ascension," he concluded, causing everyone in Team Zenith to smile. They had participated in developing this technique themselves, and they knew its value.

Zhuo Yihong, Xia Na, and Qin Tian were dumbfounded. Even what little they had heard had overwhelmed their understanding of the dimensional world. The hunters of Team Zenith treated the will of the world, a godlike being, as nothing more than just another lifeform! How could they? It was unimaginable!

"Well, alright. All of you must be quite tired from overwhelming the will of the world, so take a break for today. Zhuo Yihong, Xia Na, Qin Tian, can you show them around the barracks? Then go out hunting with them for basic and mutated gene fragments tomorrow. I assume you understand everything you heard is top-secret, so without my approval, you can't mention it to anyone, not even your family or friends. Are we clear?"

"Yes, Captain!" the three hunters replied firmly.

They had countless questions for Zhang Lie and the rest of his team, but they chose not to bring them up for the moment. Instead, they exited Zhang Lie's cottage with the members of Team Zenith.

There would be many more days ahead of them, and the fact that Zhang Lie had allowed them to stay for this discussion made his attitude clear. As long as they were loyal enough, this wouldn't be the last time that they would be able to participate in such discussions.

To be frank, after finding out about what Zhang Lie and his team had done, they felt like they were living in an entirely different world. If they too could become a member of Team Zenith, then what the members of Team Zenith experienced now could be what they would experience in the future.

News of the arrival of Team Zenith quickly spread around the upper echelons of Qi. That night, the troop leader of the special forces, Zhou Liao, organized a celebration to welcome the members of Team Zenith.

In the barracks' canteen, all the special forces troops, save the second team, who had gone out on a mission, were gathered for a feast. Team Zenith's table was at the very center. No one dared to show Zhang Lie or his team any disrespect; after all, Zhang Lie had subdued the entire Tianji Council by himself, even the council head Wang Yanyi.

The members of Team Zenith, fresh newcomers to the second realm, managed to defeat Ning Yu and his guards while suffering no injuries at all. It seemed that they were each about as strong, or even stronger than, the troop leader Zhou Liao himself.

The special forces troops couldn't dare imagine such a feat, so it was obvious that they would treat the members of Team Zenith well.

"Deputy Leader Zhang, congratulations on reuniting with your team once more! And members of Team Zenith, welcome to Qi and the second realm! From today onwards, I'm sure you'll be the strongest team in the special forces!" Zhou Liao smiled excitedly at them, wholly unafraid that Zhang Lie would claim his spot as troop leader.

He knew very well that, given Zhang Lie's skills and resources, he would easily be able to take over his position if he really wanted to, but Zhang Lie was far more ambitious than that. He wouldn't have to worry about Zhang Lie usurping his position at all.

"Isn't that so? Deputy Leader Zhang crushed Wang Yanyi on his first day here, and the members of Team Zenith did the same to the Qi guards!"

"Right, right! A toast to the members of Team Zenith!"

The members of Team Zenith accepted the toasts that came their way, smiling as they heard their praises being sung.

"Ha! Aren't you afraid they'll get conceited from all that praise?" A voice came from the outskirts of the canteen.

Everyone turned to find the governor of Qi, Xiao Zhengyang, and the head of the Tianji Council, Wang Yanyi, standing there. The two of them had appeared out of nowhere; Wang Yanyi seemed to have been the one who had spoken. His face seemed a little sullen, given that he had been relegated to the background in the story of Zhang Lie's claim to fame.