I Don't Agree to the Terms

Gu Shanhai knew that players would eventually come for revenge, but they wouldn't stay.

For players, the value of this world was very minimal, and now that the commercial area had been destroyed, the production of various items and equipment would also cease. In fact, after the Divine Alliance and the Divine appeared, the cash flow in the commercial area had already drastically reduced, since chaos had ensued.

The person in charge had attempted mediation to no avail; back when the commercial area still existed, as long as it could keep running, everything was fine. Stability could be restored and expansion reconsidered later.

But now, even Player Island was gone, the cost to rebuild was simply too great, and the risk assessment too high, it was better to switch to a brand new world.

The loss to the players was one-time; they could make up for it with long-term gains after leaving, whereas the world's loss was greater. Without imports from other worlds, the original development would slow down... well, Azure Sea World probably didn't have much development to speak of in the first place.

But the scarcity of resources was inevitable.

In fact, the trade between the players and many forces in Azure Sea World was settled with food, which wasn't considered precious to players; a farmer or someone in a related occupation could harvest a large amount of food in a year.

The Azure Sea World itself had scarce land, definitely not much grain production, and over the decades, relying too heavily on the players' grain had dealt a massive blow to local agriculture.

Soon, people would definitely starve, and grain prices would soar, perhaps they were rising already.

The Island Royal Families weren't fools; they could naturally foresee these issues.

This was about their very lifelines.

Of course, aside from food, the production of various metals, shipbuilding, etc., would quickly deteriorate.

Since the players' arrival, they had been leeching off the entire world and had taken control of many lifelines. Once the players disappeared, it would be a huge blow to every force in the world.

Under normal circumstances, players wouldn't leave unless they encountered such massive changes.

"Why rely on players? The actions of the Divine will make the players resent the entire world, not just the Divine side. The Divine Alliance has directly allied with the Divine, and now its power is enough to represent everyone. So when the players return, they won't be the friendly kind, but vengeful mad dogs," Gu Shanhai also felt a headache about this.

Most players were vengeful, ready to gang up and attack if provoked, hire someone through a forum if that didn't work, or just bide their time until their level, equipment, skills, etc., improved to come back and crush their enemies, showing them what ferocity meant.

The Divine of the Azure Sea World were powerful, true, but players weren't static; someday, players would grow to a power even the Divine of this world couldn't match, and no one could stop their revenge then.

So if Gu Shanhai really resolved the issue with the Divine, he would also need to figure out how to handle potential player retaliation.

Players might not be reasonable; this time, the Divine had indeed gone too far. If they didn't make a harsh example, how could players secure their future here?

"Wait, doesn't that mean in addition to dealing with the Divine and Divine Alliance, I also have to face the aggressive players?" Wang Qi felt somewhat desperate; what a mess this was.

"Don't worry, just handle the Divine Alliance, and I'll take care of the players," Gu Shanhai still held some sway.

If necessary, compensate every player using local resources, and then have the Divine Alliance fund the reconstruction of a commercial area; though with the current situation, the latter seemed unlikely.

Of course, there was another solution: to directly push the world to a despicable extent. When players entered, they would lose health or find it counterproductive to even breathe, thus forcing them to retreat.

Dealing with undying players through brute force was the most foolish method.

As for handling it like Gu Shanhai, banning and sealing accounts in one go, that might work for small forces, but the commercial area involved more than just one player force.

"Do you have confidence in this, Boss?" Wang Qi was curious.

"Yes, definitely," Gu Shanhai took on the burden not just to clear up trouble, but also to make a profit.

The compensatory resources would certainly not come from Gu Shanhai but would be harvested from this world, allowing Gu Shanhai to line his own pockets. He would exchange them with players for skills, items, equipment, and more—anything he could get his hands on to broaden his knowledge.

Although it wasn't as straightforward as entering another world system, it didn't require any expenditure. For him, time was also a cost, since he wouldn't leave a world he entered before spending thirty to fifty years there.

The two chatted casually while tending to the four crew members, as time ticked away second by second.

Wang Qi didn't wake Fang Chen after an hour, considering Fang Chen was quite exhausted. He slept from day to night, and upon seeing this, he gave a somewhat embarrassed chuckle.

Just when Wang Qi was about to rest, the fevers of Yu Ju and Fang Jin finally subsided and they stopped talking nonsense.

Another half an hour passed before the two of them woke up.

Upon waking, both of them had splitting headaches, as if their brains had been minced in a meat grinder and then stuffed back in.

Fang Chen brewed some hot soup for them to drink, which greatly alleviated their discomfort.

"We've managed to escape, haven't we?" Yu Ju rubbed his head, trying to ease his pain a bit as he asked.

"Yes, we left smoothly," Wang Qi replied.

"Spiritual damage, and it's severe. Luckily we were far away. If we had been close to the Divine battling, even if the various shockwaves and attacks didn't reach us, the spiritual damage alone would have killed us."

"We know far too little about the Divine."

As the ship's doctor with substantial experience, Yu Ju quickly analyzed many details.

"There's nothing we can do. Compared to the Divine, our gap is simply too vast. Only a Divine can fight a Divine, otherwise, why would we try to unseal the Heavenly Emperor?" Wang Qi also knew that this experience had a greater impact on the crew than their previous loyalty to the Divine under the Godslayer Alliance.

Before this, nobody had truly felt the Divine's power.

This time, no one contradicted Wang Qi, but they still harbored worries—what if this 'Heavenly Emperor', also a Divine, would turn on them once they freed him?

They had no way to ensure that the 'Heavenly Emperor' would keep his promise.

But they didn't voice these thoughts, as it would be pointless. The world was already bad enough; if they had a choice, they wouldn't place their hopes on a Divine.

"I wonder where the Divine come from, why haven't we heard about them before?" Fang Chen mumbled quietly on the side.

They knew that the Divine Alliance had released the Divine, but they lacked more detailed information, like where the Divine originally were and why they needed to be released.

"Maybe we'll find out after defeating the Divine," Wang Qi didn't know either. He had asked Gu Shanhai, and Gu Shanhai's response was cryptic, merely saying that the Divine had always been there, just invisible to everyone.

After that, there was no more follow-up. Wang Qi continued to ask, but Gu Shanhai explained that these matters were insignificant.

Since Gu Shanhai was unwilling to reveal more, Wang Qi stopped asking, and so he too was clouded in mystery, unclear about the true origins of the Divine.