Wen Wen chatted with Chu Wei for a while, and Chu Wei returned to his room. Before leaving, he said to Wen Wen:
"Prepare for battle. We've been in a stalemate here for days, and today they are starting to gather hunters on a large scale. It seems they are about to launch a full-scale assault."
Wen Wen nodded. It was natural for the association to take action, but Wen Wen was curious about how they would deal with the tigers, given that there were still many hostages in the city.
Yue Shi City was a small city with a population of less than 400,000. Currently, at least 50,000 people were being held hostage by these tigers. Even if the association launched an attack, they couldn't disregard the lives of so many people.
In the evening, Wen Wen received a notification to attend a meeting at the camp's command center to discuss the follow-up attack plan for Yue Shi City.
The command center was a three-story building, where dozens of association staff were busy working. The meeting room was on the third floor. When Wen Wen entered, he found eight people already seated there.
Seven of them were Upper Sequence realm hunters. Two familiar faces were Qiao Feiya, dressed in armor, and Metal Tide, whom he had encountered while pursuing Wu Wang.
Although Wen Wen had not met the remaining individuals, he had some understanding of them. The Upper Sequence hunters in the Hua Mansion District were not few, but not many either. One of them was a short, stout old man dressed in earth-yellow clothing, codenamed 'Earth Hand.' This camp was likely created by him.
Another person sat cross-legged in a corner of the meeting room, with a barrier adorned with blue runes appearing around his body. He was likely the 'Barrier Master' supporting the massive barrier that enveloped Yue Shi City. Maintaining such a large barrier required constant focus, so Wen Wen was already surprised that he could attend this meeting.
Upon entering, Wen Wen received close attention. Due to his rapid progress and excellent performance in multiple major events, he had become a celebrity among hunters.
Qiao Feiya's expression brightened when she saw Wen Wen. She walked up to him and smiled, "I truly didn't expect your strength to progress so quickly, becoming Upper Sequence in less than a year… Let's spar after this."
Her eyes held intense fighting spirit. She had heard a saying that friendship between strong individuals grows through combat, and she wanted to be friends with Wen Wen, hence her desire to fight him.
Wen Wen's mouth twitched slightly. Was this woman looking for trouble?
Sparring wasn't impossible, and Wen Wen also enjoyed fighting strong opponents. Moreover, he wanted to know the gap between himself and Qiao Feiya.
In the past, in the underground labyrinth, Wen Wen had to fight hard to defeat opponents that Qiao Feiya could kill with a wave of her hand. Now, Wen Wen had reached the same level as her.
However, the timing for a fight seemed inappropriate.
Wen Wen declined, saying, "Well, we are currently on a mission, and we need to conserve our energy..."
Qiao Feiya nodded, then looked at the metal container on Wen Wen's back and smiled, "Are you nurturing your sword? Then we'll have to postpone our spar. You can't exert your full strength in your current state."
Seeing that Qiao Feiya had instantly discerned what he was doing, Wen Wen was slightly surprised. His gaze swept over the golden long sword at Qiao Feiya's waist, and it seemed she had undergone similar experiences.
"Then it's settled that we'll spar, and you won't go back on your word," Qiao Feiya said as she returned to her seat, fearing that Wen Wen might change his mind about sparring with her.
Wen Wen ran a hand through his hair, wondering what he had done to offend Qiao Feiya.
A few minutes later, two people entered the meeting room one after another. The one in front was a thin man in white, with a strength of Disaster Lower Sequence, carrying a plastic bag of sand.
The other man was tall, with red vertical hair, and wore unconventional "holed" clothing. He was likely a True Sequence realm superhuman.
The white-clad superhuman coughed a couple of times and said, "My name is Yuan Xiao, and I am the overall commander for this operation. The person next to me is codenamed 'Ba Chong,' a True Sequence realm hunter."
Wen Wen raised an eyebrow. A Disaster Lower Sequence commander for two True Sequences and eight Upper Sequences indicated that this man was definitely exceptional. No one present seemed to be dissatisfied. Expertise was specialization, and strength didn't necessarily equate to suitability for commanding battles. It was better to leave professional matters to professionals.
Yuan Xiao didn't waste words. He directly poured the bag of sand onto the table. Then, he placed his hands on the table, and the sand automatically moved, forming an incredibly detailed sand table.
"This is the terrain map of Yue Shi City. In ancient times, it was a strategic location, hence the twelve-meter-high city walls surrounding it. These walls have been reinforced by the power of those tiger-like superhumans. Ordinary methods of passage will inevitably attract their attention."
"The city is built against the mountains. The south side of the city has cliffs dozens of meters high. For normal warfare, this would be the most difficult to breach. However, for superhumans, entering from here is the most convenient and least likely to attract the attention of those tiger-like beings."
"Everyone, remember this location. It would be best if you also memorize everything on this sand table. Then, precisely at noon tomorrow, we will launch our assault into Yue Shi City from here!"
"Starting tomorrow noon? So soon?" Wen Wen had expected at least two or three days.
Yuan Xiao nodded and said, "It's better to act quickly than to delay. Half of the creatures in the city are humans. After days of stalemate, the food within the city has been nearly depleted. If we don't act soon, they will start eating people. The 50,000 residents in the city are not only hostages for those tigers but also their prey."
"But if they have hostages, won't they start massacring them as soon as we begin our attack? What should we do then?" Qiao Feiya asked with a frown.
Yuan Xiao smiled, his hands continuing to move over the table. Soon, small tiger-headed figures and normal human figures appeared on it. These figures represented the tiger-like beings and humans in the city.
Then, Yuan Xiao said confidently, "These tigers are evolving very rapidly. In just a few days, they have already established their own social systems, which allows them to resist our attacks more effectively. But this also creates vulnerabilities for them."
"What do you mean?" Metal Tide asked, confused.
"The social structure of these tiger-like beings is roughly equivalent to human slave societies. In the eyes of the higher-status and more powerful tiger-like beings, humans are not even as good as livestock. Therefore, they refuse to live in the same territory as humans, considering it a disgrace, and have driven all humans to the eastern district, while they reside in the western district."
"This means that the slave owners and tiger warriors with powerful abilities are mostly living in the western district, enjoying their lives. Those guarding the hostages in the eastern district are only the low-status slaves!"