To put it bluntly, the moment Cheng Qisheng spoke, the entire group chat fell silent.
A total of thirteen Safe Cities had descended into this world, and Blue Sea Safe City was the only newcomer.
Barely twenty-four hours had passed, and advancing from Tier 1 to Tier 2 was already shocking enough.
And now, she had even crossed tiers and taken down a Tier 3 Safe City.
More importantly—Blue Sea usually seemed rather mild-tempered.
When “Coriander” sent her wood, she sold him food supplies in return.
When “Meow Meow” spoke up for her, she even sent Meow Meow a gift.
Normally, she spoke in a gentle tone and occasionally shared information about this world.
She was the sort of person who rarely spoke in the group chat, yet still maintained a certain presence. In general, everyone thought she was easy to get along with.
And yet now, Blue Sea Safe City, still speaking in that same gentle tone, had announced that she was the one who killed “Cosmic.”
***
Blue Leaf Safe City—
A young man was drinking juice. The instant he saw that message, he spat it all out.
Blue Sea?
How could it be Blue Sea?!
His heart filled with regret.
When they had tried to recruit Blue Sea before, they hadn’t put much effort into it because they assumed she was merely a newcomer. After Blue Sea stopped responding much, they had simply given up.
If only they had known!
They should have shown far more sincerity!
But now it was too late to try recruiting her again. She had already rejected them. If he went pestering her now and ended up annoying her…
Thinking of Cosmic’s name turning gray, he immediately abandoned the idea.
***
Zhou Yue Safe City—
Zhou Yue was lying in bed, reading a construction-themed novel for inspiration while keeping an eye on the City Lord group chat. The moment she read the message, she accidentally squeezed the book so hard that several pages crumpled together into a single wad.
“Oh my god, how could it be her?!”
She immediately began desperately searching her memory, trying to recall whether she had ever offended this big shot during her dealings with Blue Sea.
Relief.
Good, good!
Judging from their chat history, all of their transactions had gone perfectly fine, and the big shot’s tone had always been calm.
When they traded for the mineral detection device, Zhou Yue had also been honest and straightforward, without trying to cheat her.
Only then did Zhou Yue finally relax. She carefully put away the now-crumpled “construction-themed novel” and focused all her attention on the City Lord group chat.
Yes, Zhou Yue almost never spoke in the group chat.
But she was always there, silently lurking and reading everything.
Unlike “Coriander,” who lived by the philosophy that “the more friends you have, the more paths open before you,” Zhou Yue had always believed:
“As long as I have no presence, no one will be able to target me.”
So she quietly lurked, trying to gather more information.
Specifically, why Blue Sea had killed Cosmic.
Cosmic really did have a foul mouth, but he hadn’t interacted much with Blue Sea in the group chat, and Blue Sea usually seemed quite good-tempered.
So what exactly had happened?
***
Coriander Safe City—
Wen Huahua was still in shock.
He had even warned the big shot before to be careful of Cosmic, worrying that Cosmic might eventually come after her.
And now—
The big shot had outright killed him?!
No, no.
He needed to hurry up and think of something flattering to say so he could firmly cling to the big shot’s thigh!
He had always diligently sent the big shot morning and evening greetings, and whenever he learned anything useful, he immediately passed it along. Their relationship could definitely be considered “fairly good.”
At a time like this, he had to hurry and take the big shot’s side!
But perhaps the shock had simply been too great. Wen Huahua, who could normally spew endless rainbow praise without even thinking, now found his mind completely blank.
He buried his face in his blanket and groaned.
“Stupid brain! Think! Hurry up and think!”
***
Meow Meow Safe City—
A group of beast-people had transformed into cats.
The tabby cat “Meow Meow” stood atop a raised platform, surrounded by colorful disco lights. Nearby, a calico cat swayed to the rhythm while singing.
Below them, cats danced chaotically across the floor.
Meow Meow glanced at the group chat.
The thought that Cosmic was now thoroughly, irreversibly dead filled her with such overwhelming joy that she suddenly shouted:
“Meow! Keep dancing! Keep having fun!”
***
Gu Gaga Safe City—
A treant was counting how many nuclear crystals it had earned that day when it saw the message.
One of the branches on its head immediately drooped.
It muttered under its breath,
“The newcomer is a monster.”
“Ah!”
It let out a pained sigh.
“A monster we can’t afford to provoke.”
Originally, it had thought that because the newcomer had only just arrived and didn’t understand anything yet, it could take advantage of the opportunity to deceive her a little and earn a few extra crystals.
What a pity.
This was clearly someone who couldn’t be trifled with.
The treant loved crystals, but it valued its life even more. It had absolutely no intention of provoking someone capable of taking down a Tier 3 Safe City.
It opened a private chat with Blue Sea Safe City and transferred 130 nuclear crystals.
Gu Gaga Safe City: “There was a miscalculation when I bought second-hand equipment from you before. I just checked the accounts and am returning the extra core crystals.”
Gu Gaga Safe City: “I overpaid by 20 crystals. Please consider them an apology gift.”
Cheng Qisheng accepted the refunded crystals and replied with a simple “okay.”
Then she sent the same “okay” to another city lord who had also returned resources.
Although the group chat was temporarily silent, her private inbox was extremely lively.
In just a short while, four Safe City lords had already come forward to apologize, saying that during previous resource exchanges they might have taken slightly more than they should have and were deeply sorry. They were now returning everything immediately, and Cheng Qisheng could keep the “handling fee” as compensation.
Some city lords sent lengthy apologies. Others gritted their teeth and added extra nuclear crystals as compensation. Some even threw in additional supplies.
Every one of them spoke with extraordinary care and sincerity, as though terrified that she might hold a grudge.
Cheng Qisheng held a yellow list in her hand.
As each apology and refund arrived, she crossed off another name.
She was somewhat surprised to discover that every city lord who had previously cheated her out of a few crystals during a trade, assuming she didn’t understand market prices, had completed the full “refund + apology” process within just three minutes.
Even city lords who were normally so quiet they were practically invisible in the group chat had done the same.
Not a single person tried their luck.
The moment Cheng Qisheng revealed her strength, they all “dropped to their knees” with astonishing naturalness.
It seemed Cosmic truly had been the exception.
Among those who had survived until now, there really weren’t any fools.
At the fourth minute, someone finally broke the silence in the group chat.
[Coriander Safe City]: Aaaahhhh oh my god! It was you, big shot!! So strong, so strong!
[Coriander Safe City]: Cheering for you!! Cosmic finally kicked an iron plate! He even tried to trick me into giving him my coordinates before, but luckily I didn’t, sob sob—otherwise the name that turned gray in this chat might’ve been mine!
[Coriander Safe City]: Big shot, you’re delivering justice for everyone!! Sob sob, let me hug your thigh~
Coriander’s messages shattered the silence and immediately set the tone regarding Cosmic’s death.
[Blue Leaf Safe City]: Like for Blue Sea. Cosmic really was a tumor in our group. He definitely provoked you first.
[Meow Meow Safe City]: Meow meow meow~
[Zhou Yue Safe City]: Like for the big shot. Also, Meow Meow, did you get high again?
[Gu Gaga Safe City]: Like +1 (for resource and nuclear crystal trades, contact me)
[Snowfall Safe City]: Like +1
[Orange Orange Safe City]: Like +1
[What the Hell Is Going On Safe City]: Like +1
[…]
Aside from Cosmic’s death, another strange phenomenon occurred that day.
All eleven city lords—excluding Cheng Qisheng herself—came out to “like” the message.
It was an extraordinarily rare sight.
At least four of them had never once appeared in the group chat since Cheng Qisheng joined.
She posted [Thanks everyone =v=] in the group chat, then privately messaged Coriander to ask why all the city lords had suddenly emerged at once.
Was there some hidden rule she didn’t know about?
Something like, “After a Safe City war ends, everyone must like the winner’s message to congratulate them”?
Coriander replied almost instantly.
[Because everyone is afraid that if they don’t make their stance clear, you might think they’re Cosmic’s accomplices~]
[The possibility is tiny, sure, but what if? Besides, big shot, you just killed a city lord. Defeating a Tier 3 with a Tier 2 Safe City is obviously terrifyingly strong. At a time like this, the other city lords will definitely be watching your personality, temper, and taboos so they don’t accidentally offend you.]
Coriander was completely open with her.
He even told her that three city lords had privately contacted him to ask about Blue Sea Safe City and whether he knew what kind of person Cheng Qisheng was.
[Big shot, just tell me how you want me to answer! I’ll say exactly that! Or if you don’t want people talking about you, I can simply stop responding!]
Cheng Qisheng didn’t even need to guess what sort of image Coriander would paint of her.
Coriander was smart.
Now that the relationship between them had grown closer, he was fully committed to clinging to her as his backer. He was doing everything possible to prove his usefulness to her.
Naturally, he would only speak more positively about her, never less.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Just tell them honestly what you think =v=
After congratulating Cheng Qisheng, the group chat gradually shifted into an enthusiastic discussion about just how obnoxious Cosmic had been.
After observing for a while, Cheng Qisheng reached a conclusion.
Perhaps Cosmic had simply become the shared topic of conversation at the moment, but the content of the discussion made one thing abundantly clear:
Every city lord genuinely disliked him.
The reason was simple.
That guy had privately approached almost every single city lord.
Unfortunately for him, everyone in this world was extremely cautious.
They all understood perfectly well what Cosmic had been trying to do.
No one liked someone who wanted them dead.
By the same logic, everyone was also wary of Cheng Qisheng, who possessed the ability to destroy a Safe City above her own tier.
Their hatred of Cosmic was genuine.
But so was their desire to use this opportunity to gather more information about Blue Sea and analyze Cheng Qisheng’s personality.
The more cautious ones wanted to understand her temperament so they could avoid stepping on one of her landmines in the future.
The bolder ones wanted to see whether they could gain some benefit from this newly risen powerhouse.
After everyone had spent quite some time tearing Cosmic apart, Blue Leaf finally asked:
[@Blue Sea Safe City Big Shot May I ask how you ended up fighting Cosmic? Were your coordinates leaked?]
His tone was noticeably cautious.
Compared to his previous attitude of a “senior big brother,” he now sounded as though he were one step away from placing Cheng Qisheng on a pedestal and worshiping her.
[If it’s inconvenient to say, that’s fine—I just heard that there are one-time high-tier items capable of locating a city lord’s coordinates. I’m worried something similar might exist in the lower-tier zones too. If so, there’d be no way to defend against it.]
Cheng Qisheng slowly straightened up.
The perfect opportunity to reinforce her “persona” had arrived.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Don’t worry. He gave me his coordinates. After I went over there, it turned into an ordinary Safe City war.
[Blue Leaf Safe City]: Phew! So that’s what happened. Big shot, you were tricked by Cosmic too. He brought this on himself. Serves him right.
Compared with an ambitious newcomer who had deliberately sought out another Safe City to devour, the city lords were much more comfortable believing that Cosmic had simply brought disaster upon himself and gotten killed instead.
Unfortunately—
Blue Leaf relaxed too soon.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Nope =v=
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Before I went, I already knew he wanted my core. He made it way too obvious, and he even provoked me. So I made some preparations, then went over and fought him =v=
Blue Leaf: “……”
The other city lords: “……”
They had all assumed Cosmic had tricked a newcomer into revealing her coordinates, only to underestimate her strength and get brutally counter-killed.
But in reality—
She had gone there deliberately?
The fact that she could describe something so violent in such a calm, casual tone was deeply unsettling.
Being targeted wasn’t actually that serious.
As long as she refused to reveal her coordinates, Cosmic couldn’t reach her, and she wouldn’t be in any danger.
A Safe City war consumed enormous amounts of resources and military strength.
Unless absolutely necessary, most city lords avoided initiating one.
Except, of course, those who specialized in plundering others.
But Blue Sea had chosen to fight.
What exactly had Cosmic done?
How badly had he provoked her for her to willingly start a war?
[Blue Sea Safe City]: You all remember, right? He had already been provoking me in the group chat before. Meow Meow even defended me.
The city lords immediately began frantically scrolling through the chat history.
Could she possibly mean…
That incident when Cosmic had asked in the group chat how much food Blue Sea Safe City had stockpiled?
At the time, Meow Meow had even reminded Blue Sea not to reveal it.
And afterward, Blue Sea had sent Meow Meow dried fish as a gift.
Just for that?!?!
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Yep =v=
The group chat went silent again, like a flock of birds suddenly choking on their own breath.
Asking about someone’s food reserves was certainly unpleasant.
But escalating that into a full-scale Safe City war…
Inside their respective Safe Cities, numerous city lords began frantically searching their memories.
“Wait… I’ve never offended her before, have I?”
In Cheng Qisheng’s private messages, the city lords who had already refunded her began frantically apologizing all over again.
Some even tried sending her additional nuclear crystals as apology gifts, but she rejected them all.
[Blue Sea Safe City]: Returning the extra crystals is enough. There’s no need to give me anything more—it’s already worth more than the goods I sold you. It’s fine. Just be more careful next time =v=
Such a gentle, polite response.
Yet somehow, the city lords became even more terrified.
They worried that one day Cheng Qisheng might suddenly “hit them with something big.”
So they began asking the other city lords what kind of person Blue Sea really was.
And what they discovered was that Cheng Qisheng’s usual temperament genuinely was quite good.
[I asked Coriander. He practically praised Blue Sea to the heavens. He said she has a great personality and always repays kindness with kindness. She gave Meow Meow ten packs of dried fish, and Meow Meow said the same thing—Blue Sea is extremely principled. After Meow Meow spoke up for her, Blue Sea even sold her discounted cat food she found in this world.]
Two city lords who were relatively close began privately analyzing the situation.
[So it seems Blue Sea isn’t exactly the type who “repays kindness.” She’s more like someone who “repays everything she remembers.” If you treat her well, she remembers it. If you treat her badly, she remembers that too.]
[Yes, yes, I agree. As long as you don’t provoke her, everything’s fine.]
[I was terrified. I once slightly overcharged her when she bought equipment from me. I immediately rushed over to apologize, and luckily she didn’t hold it against me. I genuinely thought I was going to die.]
Normally, being forced to spit back out something you had already swallowed would feel extremely unpleasant.
But compared with Cosmic—who had merely asked about Blue Sea’s food reserves and ended up dead with his entire city destroyed—
This city lord suddenly felt extraordinarily fortunate.
[Actually, she’s perfectly fine as long as you don’t provoke her. I’ve traded with her several times. Her prices are reasonable, and her attitude is good. Cosmic really did covet her core. Blue Sea had every right to be angry.]
[Yes, yes. In the future, we should be more polite when talking to her. I don’t want to trigger a war. Whether it’s losing territory or exhausting my citizens, I can’t afford either.]
[+1]
Cheng Qisheng watched as, exactly as she had expected, the probing questions and recruitment attempts in the City Lord chats dropped by ninety percent.
Everyone became noticeably more polite.
The atmosphere of the group chat turned peaceful and harmonious, and even their tone toward one another became far more courteous.
Even when discussing trades, everyone suddenly began offering much more reasonable prices.
This was exactly how things should be.
It wasn’t that Cheng Qisheng was incapable of investigating the true value of equipment or bargaining.
She simply preferred not to waste effort on such things when there was an easier solution.
More importantly, she really did need to flex her “biceps” a little so that no other city lord would come looking for trouble.
Blue Sea had just expanded into such an enormous territory.
She needed a period of safety to consolidate and digest everything she had gained.
Cheng Qisheng also needed to devote more time and energy to Blue Sea itself—internally, to absorb and make use of the newly acquired resources, and externally, to continue expanding and gathering even more.
Coriander’s reminder had remained in her mind all this time:
The next world might not possess such abundant resources.
Other Safe Cities might only need to prepare supplies for one million or ten million people.
But Blue Sea needed enough resources for 360 million.
It would be a shame to abandon the defensive barrier she had previously constructed around Miang’an City.
Perfect.
She could advance from Qianli City all the way to Miang’an City, sweeping through everything in between and gathering every resource within reach as thoroughly as possible.
Besides, it had already been nearly a month since they arrived in this world.
The so-called world mission would soon be issued.
No matter what the mission turned out to be, possessing more territory and stronger manpower could never be a bad thing.
During the first month, Cheng Qisheng had still been a newcomer.
She hadn’t fully understood the rules governing Safe Cities or this world, so she had acted cautiously. After taking a small town, she had halted Blue Sea’s expansion.
But now, having eliminated Cosmic, acquired more territory, and gained the goodwill of the other city lords…
The timing was finally perfect.
Heaven, earth, and people were all aligned.
It was time to show what she could really do.
Cheng Qisheng looked out over Blue Sea Safe City, now several times larger than before.
Then she looked toward her army, which had just finished a battle and was currently reorganizing and resting.
Now, she could truly take root in this world and begin exploring it in earnest.