The Great Thief

“I think Sorrowless will definitely attack Blood Red War Flag this week,” Fat Monkey said with certainty.

“We can’t just pin our hopes on the fact that he will attack someone else and not us. We need to have more forward thinking than that.”

Lu Li hated to admit it, but Glory Capital’s existence actually put a lot of pressure on everyone else.

In the two previous Stronghold Wars, Glory Capital had attacked them. Although they had acquired some extra aid, they still almost lost the Stronghold.

Glory Capital attacked someone else last week, which meant that every other guild that wasn’t facing them had a relatively easy time defending themselves. Now, everyone was just hoping that Glory Capital would target someone else.

“So, what you’re saying is that if they attacked with all their strength, we wouldn’t be able to hold it?” Sky Moon asked, feeling a little uncomfortable.

“We wouldn’t have a problem defending one of them, but defending two of them would be a little difficult. The key issue now is that we have three Strongholds to defend as we need to help Grand Hegemony hold their Stronghold too. We’ll have to get the aid we got last time again – we cannot let our Strongholds fall into the hands of Glory Capital,” Lu Li said resolutely.

“In the case that we aren’t able to hold it, we would rather give up the Black Sea Coast… but that isn’t really an option,” Wandering considered seriously.

At this time, everyone still thought highly of the Strongholds.

The Black Sea Coast was a Stronghold they had held for nine Stronghold Wars. It had existed since the beginning of the Stronghold system, and now it was going to be abandoned.

“I think we could incite Blood Red War Flag to fight Glory Capital, or perhaps we could even get Azure Guard involved. They would do their best to help,” Wandering suggested. He had always been good at developing these kinds of strategies.

“That sounds pretty good,” Lu Li’s agreed as his eyes lit up.

“We don’t need to commit much manpower or money as well. Blood Red War Flag and Azure Guard will happily go all out. The former are in conflict over the Hillsbrad Hills and the latter just lost a Stronghold to Glory capital…”

“Wandering, you’ve changed… you’re so crafty now,” Azure Sea Breeze said with a shocked expression. Azure Sea Breeze was the kind of person to attend the meeting just to make up numbers.

“And in that case, Glory Capital wouldn’t attack us anymore, right?” Sky Moon asked.

Lu Li shook his head, disagreeing, “If the attack is strong enough, then they would have to focus all their strength on defending. In that case, they wouldn’t attack us anymore. However, we have to be clear on the fact that Blood Red War Flag’s interests and our interests are not the same.”

“Why? Don’t we all want to join forces to fight Glory Capital?” Fat Monkey questioned.

“Did you forget to bring your brain with you or something? How could our interests be the same as Blood Red War Flag’s?” Wandering retorted. He was the one who had come up with the plan, but he knew the drawbacks of the idea.

He was obviously an intelligent person. Anything that Lu Li thought of, he had realized as well.

Blood Red War Flag and Azure Guard could combine forces as long as they had reason to, and as long as they had someone to remind them of that reason, the combined attack would work.

However, they obviously didn’t want Glory Capital to be defending their Stronghold. If Glory Capital was fully on the defensive, then they wouldn’t be able to win. If Glory Capital did their best to attack Ruling Sword when they attacked, they would have a better opportunity.

It was actually in their interests for both Ruling Sword and Glory Capital to suffer.

After listening to Lu Li’s explanation, they realized that things were not that simple.

“So, I think the plan would be this,” Lu Li said after some thought, “We work on ensuring that Blood Red War Flag and Azure Guard collaborate, while leaking that information to Glory Capital.”

“Wow, you really are shameless!” Azure Sea Breeze cried out.

Fat Monkey also had a shocked expression. From their perspective, both Wandering and Lu Li were crafty veterans. They were both trying to one up each other with their insidious plans.

“Alright then, I’ll be contacting Jade Flower Lover,” Lu Li said, settling on the decision and beginning to implement it.

“No, you can’t do it,” Wandering quickly responded.

“Why? Surely you don’t think I’m incapable of doing even this,” Lu Li said with a smile.

“Of course you can do it – you are even more crafty than I thought – but you can’t underestimate Jade Flower Lover. He isn’t as dumb as these two idiots and he is likely to discover our true intentions if he gives it some thought.”

“Are you going to do it then?” Lu Li asked after he nodded.

With his reputation in the professional circle, Jade Flower Lover was unlikely to take him at face value.

“I can’t go either. We have to find someone who has no interest in Ruling Sword,” Wandering said.

Unforgettable Maple!

Lu Li blurted out a name and Wandering nodded. The two had decided on a suitable candidate.

“Who will be feeding this information to Glory Capital?”

“I think it is best for them to find out on their own. I can handle that part,” Wandering said confidently.

Lu Li knew he was referring to Ruling Sword’s intelligence network, mainly because Wandering was responsible for it. He might already have someone undercover inside Glory Capital.

Unforgettable Maple was respected in the professional circle, but this didn’t meant that he was a good old man. In fact, he would often hold grudges against other players, but it was all done in the open and he would never speak to anyone passive aggressively. This meant that he had an amicable relationship with most players.

Unforgettable Maple didn’t have much of an issue with this task, as he was a person without many principles as well.

Whether it was blood Red War Flag, Glory Capital or even Ruling Sword, he was just happy to see someone in an unfortunate position. Blood Red War Flag actually had a decent chance of getting the Stronghold too, and once that happened, he would be owed a favour.

Jade Flower Lover heard Unforgettable Maple’s advice and sincerely invited Gods of Dusk to join in.

Unforgettable Maple had no reason to refuse. As long as Blood Red War Flag was paying them, Gods of Dusk would have no reason to reject the offer.

Then, Jade Flower lover contacted several clubs, including the one that Lu Li had asked for aid from. Together, they formed a very powerful line up which was more ambitious than Lu Li and Wandering had imagined. They would not only attack the Stronghold on Hillsbrad Hills, but also other Strongholds owned by Glory Capital.

Fortunately, the Stronghold bidding this time was not as expected as it used to be.

The venture capitalists were beginning to understand that there was no point investing all their money into these Stronghold wars if their guilds didn’t have the corresponding strength. It was better to invest in the shops of someone else’s Stronghold and develop their in-game strength rather than blindly intervening in a Stronghold War.

As for whether and when Glory Capital would discover the plan, Lu Li didn’t ask because he trusted that Wandering would handle the matter.

Wandering was a lazy person, but anything that he guaranteed to Lu Li was always done perfectly.