Chapter 180 The Hidden Move, the Truth of Strength

"Your true strength is only a bit over two hundred..."

Su Ze's calm voice was like a clap of thunder, detonating violently across the deathly silent battlefield.

The astonishment on Liao Long's face instantly transformed into an incredible shock, his pupils shrinking to the size of needle points.

"Zhuang Yi?! How do you know Zhuang Yi?! No! How on earth do you know about that?!"

He roared, his voice carrying a hint of panic he hadn't even noticed himself.

The entire field, whether it was the thirty thousand players from Jinghai University or the remaining few dozen elites from Taoyuan Residential Area, was stunned.

What was all this talk about?

Who was Zhuang Yi?

And what did he mean by a true combat power of just over two hundred?

Didn't that man just claim to have four hundred basic combat power?

The players from Jinghai University were dazed, but they quickly snapped out of it.

They didn't need to understand!

They only needed to see that their own Boss Su Ze was completely unharmed after taking a head-on blow from that terrifying guy!

Meanwhile, that arrogant Liao Long had instead been knocked down from the sky!

That was enough!

"Holy shit! Boss is awesome!!"

"I knew it! Whatever four hundred combat power, they're all paper tigers before our Boss!"

"Kill him! Boss! Kill this poser!"

The cheers following the suppression erupted like a volcano; the roar of thirty thousand people converged, nearly flipping the night sky!

In contrast, on the side of Taoyuan Residential Area,

The color drained instantly from the faces of those five core high-level members.

They knew better than anyone how terrifying Liao Long's strength was.

But now...

The expression of one executive changed drastically as if he had thought of something, and he murmured in shock: "Could it be..."

Right then, a cold system notification finally rang out late in Liao Long's mind.

[Ding! Territory Governance effect has expired, Enfeoffment effect interrupted!]

[Player 'Liao Long' has lost the 10% attribute bonus from Leader 'Wu Fangzhou' and has lost 200 points of basic combat power!]

Boom!

Liao Long's head buzzed as if it had been struck hard by a heavy hammer.

He understood everything in an instant, his face turning as pale as paper.

Then it turned a dark, liverish purple as he abruptly looked up, glaring death at Su Ze, squeezing words through his teeth.

"You... you dismantled the imperial command flag?!"

Su Ze smiled.

With leisurely composure, he pulled a strange small flag out of his player inventory.

"Are you talking about this?"

Su Ze tossed the small flag in his hand, his movements as casual as if he were playing with a worthless toy.

"My person just traded this to me."

"You know, you really are quite heartless."

"For the sake of gaining more power for yourself, you actively allowed your own area to become someone else's 'farm'."

As Su Ze's gaze fell upon the small flag, a row of data surfaced before his eyes.

[Special Item: imperial command flag (Vassal)]

[Effect: After being planted in a territory's core, it can accept the governance of a 'Sovereign' flag owner, including but not limited to management, taxation, Enfeoffment, and other operations.]

[Description: Submit, or die.]

...

The moment he saw that flag, Liao Long's eyes instantly turned red—a bloodshot hue mixed with rage, terror, and resentment!

"How on earth did you know it existed!!" he roared hysterically.

Suddenly, as if realizing something, his body jolted violently.

Earlier, his subordinates had reported that a crazy woman was using explosives to rescue Zhuang Yi's group...

He had felt something was off at the time but hadn't had the chance to think it through.

His only thought was to suppress them as quickly as possible and lock Zhuang Yi back up.

If it weren't for the fact that Zhuang Yi's group was being kept as hostages to force Zhuang Xiaoxin to hand over that special item as a last resort, he would have killed Zhuang Yi and the others long ago!

Now, that sense of dissonance magnified infinitely in his mind!

The most obvious point was... the explosives!

Damn it, when had something like explosives ever appeared in his Taoyuan Residential Area?!

So...

So from that moment on, the people from Jinghai University had already made contact with that crazy woman?!

Borrowing explosives to save people was a lie!

That was just a smokescreen!

Even Su Ze himself was constantly drawing the enemy's attention for only one purpose...

It was to divert his and all the core members' attention so that someone hidden in the shadows could go and dismantle the real target—the imperial command flag!

In an instant, Liao Long felt a chill rush from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!

This scheme... since when did it begin?!

...

Time, returning to earlier.

When Su Ze had infiltrated Taoyuan Residential Area alone.

He hadn't been in a rush to act, but instead blended into the crowd like an ordinary survivor, observing everything quietly.

He quickly discovered that the players in this residential area were generally pathetically weak.

Furthermore, while he was following a group of players upstairs to search for people and saw an elite directly kill a woman,

Su Ze, hiding in the rear, saw a middle-aged woman carefully avoiding the crowd as she quietly descended the stairs.

In her eyes was a deep-seated hatred, as well as the grief that flowed out when she saw that woman's tragic death.

Su Ze was at the back of the crowd at the time and saw this scene clearly.

He didn't make a sound, only noting the woman's appearance.

Feeling that he couldn't be in two places at once, he immediately contacted An Lan through private chat.

[Private Chat · Su Ze: Come to Taoyuan Residential Area, I'll give you the coordinates. Infiltrate and find a middle-aged woman; these are her physical characteristics.]

[Private Chat · Su Ze: Find her and talk to her. I have a hunch there are important clues.]

[Private Chat · Su Ze: Take this. If there's danger, come back immediately.]

Su Ze traded over a [Town Portal Scroll].

After receiving the message, An Lan only replied with one word.

[Private Chat · An Lan: Okay.]

And so, the meeting followed naturally,

He learned the cause and origin of everything: it turned out that the ruler of another region possessed a special building called the 'Teleportation Altar,' used it to send the imperial command flag over, turned the entire Taoyuan Residential Area into his own farm, and appointed Liao Long as a general...

Thus, An Lan cooperated with the woman, giving her explosives so she could pretend to rescue people to draw away the enemy's attention.

Meanwhile, she went to dismantle the crucial item—the imperial command flag...