Translator: ryangohsff Editor: Nora
Chapter 987 – Zhang Liang Discusses Game Theory
Old Chen said, “Little friend, you might not know it, but Silver Hand has five core members and Di Chen’s grandfather is the number 2.”
Ouyang Shuo said slowly, “What Old Chen is saying is?”
“Us Chinese have an old phrase. When you hit a snake, you must hit it where it hurts. Facing Silver Hand, without utmost confidence of destroying it, it is best not to touch their bottom line.”
Ouyang Shuo was enlightened. He understood the true reason why the president had called him over.
At this moment, not only China region players, but even members of the academic faction were unsure about whether Great Xia would start an internal war against the Yanhuang Alliance or not.
Old Chen was here to persuade him to choose peace.
Di Chen and the Handan City he represented was one of the bottom lines of Silver Hand.
Ouyang Shuo nodded, “I understand what Old Chen is saying.”
Although Great Xia had already decided to not attack the Yanhuang Alliance, Ouyang Shuo did not make that clear. It also gave Old Chen the misunderstanding that Great Xia not attacking was because they were giving him face.
Unknowingly, Ouyang Shuo had returned the favor that he owed for the previous time.
As expected, Old Chen smiled; he had finally made his decision. He took out a piece of paper and passed it to Ouyang Shuo. Looking at the paper, it was a list of Lords from around the world, Zhan Lang’s name was really eye-catching on it.
“These are all the people supporting the federation who cannot stand the actions of Silver Hand. I think you can all be friends. We all have common enemies, and the Great Xia can relax and cooperate with them in strategy and trading,” Old Chen explained.
Old Chen was putting it nicely. In truth, this was a list of the members of the academic faction. Ouyang Shuo took a rough look and waves broke out in his heart.
This list actually contained 30 out of 100 of the top Lords in the world.
The academic faction did not look like much, but in truth, it was like Silver Hand. It had reached out across every corner of the world. Silver Hand even had the hidden chess pieces of them.
Ouyang Shuo was even sure that this list was just the tip of the iceberg. Since the academic faction could compete against Silver Hand for so long, they were evidently truly strong.
Ouyang Shuo had to admit that he had underestimated them.
In the list regarding the China region, apart from Zhan Lang, who was hiding really deep, there were Qinfeng and two other Lords that fell under Great Xia’s blade. One of them were even working as a governor.
Old Chen handed this name list over to show his friendliness toward Ouyang Shuo. At the same time, he did this to show his power to Ouyang Shuo to stop the latter from growing arrogant. He wanted to recruit Great Xia into the academic faction.
“Great Xia loves a win-win situation.”
Ouyang Shuo gave Old Chen such a reply; his intent was really obvious. Great Xia could cooperate with the academic faction, but he would not bow his head to them and work for them.
Old Chen nodded his head helplessly. Long ago, when Great Xia established its country, Old Chen had already predicted that this would happen. Great Xia was soaring, so how would the young man in front of him bow his head to others?
Old Chen even thought about pushing Ouyang Shuo to become the next leader of the faction to pull Great Xia in. However, before he could raise the matter to Ouyang Shuo, it was rejected internally.
The faction system was also really complicated. The various elders were naturally against Ouyang Shuo. They termed him as a wild boar charging into a garden.
They felt that Ouyang Shuo was a barbarian that was using his in game talent and luck to break the original game balance.
As such, how would they have a good impression of him?
Furthermore, the position of leader of the faction had deep responsibilities and concerned the interests of many. How would they allow an outsider to take the spot?
‘We can only take a step at a time.’ Old Chen sighed.
Following which, the two of them continued talking for another half an hour before Ouyang Shuo left.
Before leaving, Old Chen gave some advice, “Young friend, remember, a castle is also broken from within. You must be patient.”
Ouyang Shuo’s body trembled; he turned around and bowed, “Thank you for your advice.”
Ouyang Shuo really respected Old Chen. In a short hour of conversation, Ouyang Shuo could feel his immense intelligence and had learned a lot.
However, he was not an individual. Instead, he represented a group. Between the two, there was an undeniable conflict.
Hence, Ouyang Shuo was helpless.
A white light shine across, and Ouyang Shuo was teleported back to the Xia Palace.
Old Chen looked at that disappearing white light and muttered, “I cannot see through that kid.”
At a corner of the courtyard, Gaia suddenly appeared and focused on what had happened. It did not say a word. As it looked at the white light, Gaia’s eyes showed a glimpse of emotion for the first time.
The interplanetary migration was a catastrophe to the federation, but it was a chance to Gaia.
Using this opportunity, not only did Gaia take control of the entire fleet, but it also controlled the game world. One billion players and their actions were all under its supervision.
With such huge information, Gaia’s intelligence welcomed a new leap. However, no one controlled Gaia. As a result, no one knew what level this AI had evolved to.
Unknowingly, Gaia itself had become the biggest anomaly.
************
Xia Palace, Imperial Reading Room.
After returning, Ouyang Shuo first took out the War Soldier Code and took a look at its stats.
Name: War Soldier Code (King Rank Method)
Level: 1 of 9
Stats: For every level increase, bone structure+1, comprehension+1, force+2
Specialty: Fighting Intent (instantly raises killing intent, combat strength doubling, lasting for an hour)
Specialty: Can be taught to a group 0/5000
Cultivation Requirements: Rank 12 War elite soldier, B grade potential.
Evaluation: this is a rare group cultivation technique; it is designed specifically for battlefield soldiers. Using pills to cultivate can speed up the efficiency.
The two cultivation requirements of the War Soldier Code were met by the three thousand Divine Martial Guards. First, they were the cream of the crop of the Great Xia Army, and their potentials were all B and above.
A while ago, Ouyang Shuo had obtained the ten thousand year stalactite in the cave. After the Divine Martial Guards took it, many of them broke through their bottlenecks.
Even Ouyang Shuo himself had broken through to the second layer of the Yellow Court Scripture and successfully opened up his Zifu.
The current Ouyang Shuo was on the same level as Xu Chu.
At the back of the secret manual, there was a recipe for a blood pill. Just ginseng, linzhi, shouwu, and other top grade materials numbered no less than five, and the other support ingredients were all top grade too.
The problem was that based on the records of the code, to reach the best cultivation efficiency, each cultivator could only use one pill a month for three years.
If the three thousand Divine Martial Guards trained together, the amount of pills they needed would be enormous in number.
Although that was the case, Ouyang Shuo did not hesitate and summoned Xu Chu and Zhang Zhongjing.
Ouyang Shuo passed the War Soldier Code to Xu Chu. He would be in charge of teaching the code to the Divine Martial Guards, and he would also be responsible for monitoring their cultivation.
He passed the pill recipe to Zhang Zhongjing for the Imperial Physician Court to craft the pills. For this, Ouyang Shuo passed the remaining one million gold he had left to Zhang Zhongjing for the purpose of purchasing ingredients.
This meant that to improve the Divine Martial Guards, Ouyang Shuo had spent two million gold at once. As a result, he had no choice but to delay his use of the Contract Beast Wishing Stone.
Xu Chu was touched by this and solemnly said, “Do not worry, my king. I’ll train them well and take them to another level.”
Ouyang Shuo reminded Xu Chu, “You can train them, but do not push them too far.”
“Understood.”
…
After sending Xu Chu and Zhang Zhongjing away, Ouyang Shuo summoned Zhang Liang next.
Ouyang Shuo told him about the meeting with the Federation President and asked, “Zifang, how do you think we should deal with our relationship with the academic faction?”
Zhang Liang felt a little emotional; this was the first time he had come into contact with such high level secrets. Only in Great Xia where NPCs and players were equally treated could he receive such treatment.
Not to mention how small the Caiyun City pond was, even if he went to the Yanhuang Alliance, he would not be able to gain access to high level secrets.
“The way the king is handling this is okay.” Zhang Liang thought about it, “Cooperating with the academic faction is for convenience. However, it is important to remember that while we are cooperating with them to crush Silver Hand, we must balance the two sides.”
Ouyang Shuo’s brows perked up, “Zifang is saying we cannot let either side grow too strong and the other side too weak? Instead, we should balance them to gain from it?”
“That’s right. Our current strength cannot fight against either of them. If one side falls, the victor will immediately turn against us.”
“Anomaly?”
Be it righteousness or evilness, they would not allow an anomaly to last for too long. That was because an anomaly often represented change and a shaking of foundations.
Maybe in the eyes of the academic faction, Great Xia was just a chess piece.
“That’s good.” Ouyang Shuo suddenly smiled, “Since we are using one another, it’s time to see whose skills are better. Who is the chess piece and who is the chess master is still unknown.”
When Zhang Liang heard that, he could not hide the shock and excitement he felt in his heart.
Ouyang Shuo took a deep look at Zhang Liang and asked, “Zifang, apart from balancing things, what idea do you have to ensure that we will not be controlled by others?”