The same night, Celestial Essence City.

Ever since the Demon Realm Army entered the Calamity Realm, Celestial Essence City has been quite lucky, having not yet been heavily targeted by the Demon Venerables. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The small groups of Demon Realm forces that occasionally approached were also eliminated by Wang Zhifan and other super-innate players. The intensity of battles hasn’t even matched that before the Demon Realm Army entered the Calamity Realm.

The reasons behind this strange phenomenon are manifold.

Aside from the fact that the entry point of the Demon Realm Army was Xuanzhou, a place relatively far from Celestial Essence City, the demon forces close to here were losing too quickly.

This left other wandering powers from the Demon Realm unable to fill the gap swiftly, making Celestial Essence City seem somewhat serene.

At this moment, inside a private room of a tavern in the street district of Celestial Essence City, three players were celebrating the current favorable situation with drinks.

As usual, unless they were out gathering intelligence, they remained low-key and hidden here, neither causing trouble nor neglecting external observations. This strategic approach was a valuable experience gained through their multiple dungeon escapades.

Across the wooden table, the black Mei Country player, whose face was as dark as coal, was gnawing on the tavern’s roasted chicken while speaking to the robust white player silently drinking fine wine:

"My dear brother, you should be a bit happier!

Do you know? The reports from the reconnaissance soldiers I sent out are quite good!

This city is a very safe place, with hardly any of those monsters appearing in the nearby vast area recently!

Moreover, once monsters appear, they are wiped out by the diligent NPCs!

So our chances of successfully clearing this dungeon are getting higher and higher!"

The robust white player, drinking his wine, remained non-committal upon hearing this, occasionally glancing out the private room’s window at the bright lights of the ancient city nightscape, seemingly deep in thought.

"Brother, the intel I gathered indicates that the main enemies of this dungeon have only just appeared. Although it’s safe now, the situation might change soon, and we need to be ready to relocate at any moment."

The shorter yet robust Asian man interjected, not nearly as optimistic as the black player from Mei Country.

He could be said to be the simplest eater present, neither drinking wine nor eating meat, consuming only a tube of nutrition solution he had brought from other dungeons, indicating his caution and mistrust of the products from this dungeon world.

"Do you guys know what the other players have been up to lately?"

The robust white player, looking out the window, suddenly turned his head and asked this question.

"What else could they be doing? Either going out with the NPCs to eliminate monsters or hiding in houses like us to rest! Aside from facing more risks than us, how are they any different?"

The black player from Mei Country immediately responded with a hint of disdain, then took a fierce bite of the greasy, fragrant roasted chicken leg in his hand.

From his response, it was clear that he had always been monitoring the movements of other players, though he didn’t consider any of them to be more ingenious than the three of them.

"You only observed the surface, my black friend."

Unexpectedly, the robust white man shook his head, somewhat dissatisfied.

"Didn’t you notice? That freckled woman we overlooked is actually very powerful.

I suspect she’s an Lv80+ player, a core combat force of this dungeon.

We should’ve recruited her into our alliance to strengthen our group’s ability to resist risks, but we missed the opportunity due to insufficient attention."

As he spoke, his left thumb and forefinger habitually tapped together, as if brewing some follow-up plan to rectify earlier oversights.

But the short Asian man drinking the nutritional solution held a different view, quickly responding:

"White guy, your judgment is still not accurate!

If you had truly investigated thoroughly, you would know that the Asian player who initially separated from us is actually their core!

He seems to have special abilities, winning the trust of the other players. I believe recruiting him is the most important task."

The group continued to debate this topic, the main point of contention being how to interact with the other player group in the city. They sought ways to build good relations with them, debating whom to choose as the critical breakthrough point.

While they were discussing this topic in the private room, they were unaware that danger had quietly approached.

Some "people" hidden in the surrounding streets had already set their sights on them.

About a thousand meters from this tavern’s private room, a dozen seemingly ordinary natives gathered, one of whom suddenly produced a technological device resembling a display from thin air, clearly identifying him as a player.

"Our targets are all three inside that building."

He extended a finger toward the three dots displayed on the screen.

"If we eliminate them, half of our main dungeon mission is complete, so we absolutely cannot fail."

He said this while emphasizing to the people around him.

These people looked similar to him, appearing from head to toe as ordinary native residents. However, if one observed closely, they’d notice that everything about them seemed slightly unnatural, as if they were a group of disguised individuals wearing shells and masks.

Indeed, this was the case. These individuals were not players from Xia Country’s world; they were actually a player group from another universe. Some looked somewhat similar to Earth humans, while others weren’t human-like at all and had to use special tools for disguise to infiltrate Celestial Essence City.