"Sounds interesting. Count Ximen Wangcai in!"
While the class holders were still hesitating in silence, a man clad in a savage outfit was the first to speak.
"Starting from scratch to become number one? How could you leave Situ Xingye out of that? I'm in too," a black-haired young man said with a smile.
Looking at the two young men, the surrounding crowd mentally roasted them: *Who the hell even are you two?*
"Then I'll join too. Name's Cheng Jian," the burly man from earlier chimed in after a moment's thought.
The blond class holder froze. How had they suddenly hit five people? He was clearly the first one here, yet now he had become the outsider. If he didn't agree, the five of them could just party up and grind monsters without him.
"I'll join too! Name's Asla," the blond class holder blurted out hurriedly after a quick thought.
Yu Xian nodded and smiled. "We already have six people, which just meets the minimum requirement to found a troupe. Anyone else want to join?"
In truth, many people simply followed the herd.
Although their levels were a tiny bit higher than Yu Xian's, that didn't mean they were true powerhouses.
In reality, the truly strong were powerful in their mental fortitude, their vision, and their knowledge. Many here had simply been pulled in at random; they were never strong to begin with, much less people with independent minds.
The only reason no one had exploited them yet was that they lacked any value worth exploiting. At the end of the day, Fukang City was merely a starter town where a bunch of noobs gathered to peck at each other.
The moment these people realized that the troupe could be formed with or without them, they suddenly felt they had to get in, terrified of missing out if they were too slow.
And so, aside from a select few who were unwilling to join, the rest were completely swept up by Yu Xian.
"Alright, then I'll create the troupe now. Everyone come register," Yu Xian said with a beaming smile. Opening his party interface, he navigated to the Troupe Creation tab, spent 100 Fortune Gold Coins, and immediately established the [Sparkle Troupe].
Once the troupe was founded, Ximen Wangcai and the others joined one after another, bringing the Sparkle Troupe's roster straight to twenty-two members.
"Troupe Leader, do we keep farming monsters now?" Asla asked at this point.
Now, an emblem hovered above each person's head, making troupe members recognizable at a glance. Furthermore, attacks from fellow members caused no friendly-fire damage within the same troupe.
"No, we're heading back to town," Yu Xian said, shaking his head slightly with a smile.
……
……
In truth, the world was never short on clever people.
Xia Yang had always considered himself a clever man. Upon hitting Level 10, he had rallied a team, rising to become one of the top factions in Fukang City.
A while back, he had noticed Little Nora's stall.
An endless supply of food—even without knowing whether there were limitations, Little Nora was undeniably a strategic treasure. As long as he had Little Nora, he would become the strongest in the Zhen Realm sooner or later.
Unfortunately, when he first went to buy something and tried to cozy up to Little Nora, the brat bluntly told him he wasn't a good person and refused to sell him anything at all.
Next, he took a direct approach and demanded that Little Nora join his team, but the answer was still rejection.
Inside the city, class holders were forbidden from fighting one another, so he had no way to force Little Nora's hand. He could only drop the matter for the time being—not that he had actually given up; he was merely biding his time for an opportunity.
The moment Little Nora dared step outside the city, he would strike, teaching the kid what cruelty meant and what it meant to bow one's head when under another's roof!
Yet after having his teammates take turns keeping watch for over half a month, Little Nora never stepped outside the city once.
Just as he was about to give up, Little Nora finally left town. The trouble was that Xia Yang had gone out as well—who wouldn't want to hunt an enhanced beast? All his teammates had joined in, and by the time he remembered Little Nora, the kid had already returned to town ahead of everyone else.
By the time he gathered his teammates and rushed back to town, the target was nowhere to be found.
Previously, whether Little Nora rested in the park, in a hollow tree, or up in the branches, he always knew the spot. But this time, Little Nora had truly vanished.
Left with no choice, he had his teammates watch the city gates. The next morning, when Little Nora and Yu Xian went outside, his teammate immediately rushed back to the stables to notify him. Gathering his crew, Xia Yang rushed over to the left side of Fukang City to search for Little Nora.
On the left side of Fukang City, there were more people than monsters—a chaotic mess. He had his teammates fan out to search and nearly got into brawls with other teams. After thoroughly scouring the entire monster zone with great difficulty, Little Nora was still nowhere to be found.
Dejected, Xia Yang was leading his team back toward Fukang City when, along the road, he suddenly saw Little Nora skipping along, cradling a chubby little cat.
At that very moment, tears welled in Xia Yang's eyes, and he couldn't help reciting poetry: "'You can wear out iron shoes searching in vain, yet find it right before your eyes without an ounce of effort!' The Heavens really do love me after all!"
"Charge!"
With a loud roar, his teammates charged alongside him straight at Little Nora.
Yet just then, from the bend obscured by trees behind Little Nora, Yu Xian stepped out leading his troupe.
"Don't run, brat! I'm going to teach you the price of refusing me!" Xia Yang yelled at the top of his lungs, his eyes glued entirely to Little Nora.
An instant later, he and his teammates had surrounded Little Nora.
He reached out toward Little Nora's head, only for his wrist to be caught in another hand's grip.
"I'm curious—what price does one pay for refusing you?" Yu Xian asked.
Xia Yang glared furiously at the person holding his hand, only to find Yu Xian looking back at him with a pleasant smile.
Then he realized that it wasn't him and his teammates surrounding Little Nora—his entire team had been surrounded by theirs.
*Gulp.*
Xia Yang swallowed hard, sensing that something was terribly wrong.
"Big brother, I was just kidding," Xia Yang quickly let out an awkward laugh.
Yu Xian turned to Little Nora and asked, "Little Nora, do you have a grudge against him?"
"Do I? I've seen him before, though. He wanted to invite me into his team, but I refused," Little Nora answered.
Yu Xian understood. As expected, some smart people had indeed noticed Little Nora's value. In that case, these "smart" people could not be allowed to live.
"Now, I'll give you two choices. First, die right here. Second, disband your team and join us," Yu Xian said to Xia Yang with a smile.
Xia Yang didn't want either option, but the problem was that he had no choice.
Mainly, their side had only seven people, while Yu Xian's side had twenty-two—several of whom were as high as Level 22. There was zero chance of victory.
"Brother Xia Yang, let's just go with option two," a girl on Xia Yang's team urged at this point.
Although Xia Yang had analyzed for them in the past that death in the Zhen Realm probably wasn't true death, but merely returning to one's original world, all of that was just Xia Yang's speculation. Things like a certain streamer dying and reappearing were supposedly solid proof, but what if that streamer had a special class?
What if they had a passive skill that revived them after death?
Hence, these people didn't want to gamble. If death meant true death, it was far better to be Yu Xian's lackeys.
While Xia Yang was still hesitating, Ximen Wangcai spoke up: "Troupe Leader, if you kill their leader, their team will disband on its own. As for the rest, we can take them in as dogs."
"Wait, I choose option two!" Xia Yang blurted out immediately.
Yu Xian smiled pleasantly. "Too late. Do it!"
In the next instant, a longsword materialized in Ximen Wangcai's hand, stabbing Xia Yang eighteen times in a flash.
As for why he used a longsword yet dealt eighteen "blade" stabs—who cared?
Chapter 445