It was a difficult thing to swallow, to feel so sure about one thing one moment, and reality slapping you in the face in the next. That is exactly the situation that Baron was in now. He had prided himself in the recon abilities of his aces. However, they had not been able to sniff out the enemies hiding in their very own territory. With the initial veil of having time to mount defenses against the Sun Alliance gone, all they could do now was weather the assault.

From the preliminary intel Baron’s aces were able to retrieve, it appeared as though there were only a few small fleets in hiding and only now making their move. The bad news was that the ones who managed to sneak through were those of an advanced level that Baron actually cursed when he heard the news. Among them contained several nuclear submarines, as well as a few of the first guided-missile cruisers from America.

This was just the ones that his aces had seen! Not to mention the high likelihood that there were more surprises to be had and the rest of the Sun Alliance fleets that would now make their way here chasing Madam Zheng’s first husband. If the next series of moves were not perfectly countered by Baron’s side, it would not be an exaggeration to say that this would be the end for them.

Surprisingly, the many small fleets close to the main base of operations backed up a bit without any provocation from anyone. Madam Zheng gave out the order to only keep an eye out for them and not engage them just yet. Her thinking was that once the First got back, they would stand more of a chance to defend, even if there were more enemies to deal with.

In the meantime, preparations were being made to ensure everything was going to be as advantageous for them as possible. These types of situations were not unheard of, but the sheer unpredictability and strangeness of the situation were beyond anything Madam Zheng had seen before.

A few days go by and the First’s fleet was finally within range of being able to communicate with headquarters. The news they brought with them weren’t encouraging, but it was still manageable. They took everything they could while burning everything they had built on the island, not wanting to give the Sun Alliance any freebies. First got out of the enemies’ territory as fast as he could, but he didn’t manage to get far without tracking a group tailing him from behind. Ever so out of range, and seemingly content with their position.

This was the case all the way until First met up with Second and combined forces to make it back to their headquarters with no further distractions. Unfortunately, the moment they got back was when the Sun Alliance’s forces chose to launch multiple assaults. Preventative measures were taken to reduce casualties, and any relevant intel was shared around. Hopefully, this would reduce casualties and avoid anything as awful as being taken out by a whirlpool again.

No matter how much they were being pushed back by the forces of Wu Zi Xu, they could continue to survive for a while. The risk in retracting all of their forces at the moment was whether or not the Vesper forces would take this chance to help end the Forever Pirates alongside the Sun Alliance or to watch from the shadows and reap all the benefits of seeing their two competitors wipe each other out. Both options were tempting, but it would have been the logical reason to wait and take on the winner of this battle for supremacy. And that’s what they did.

What the Vesper top echelon did not expect was that Wu Zi Xu and all of the other executives under him would take them on personally, while also holding off the Forever Pirates. Wu Zi Xu was an extremely elusive man, and however sure his enemies’ were of knowing where his position was, he would always surprise everyone.

It was just that with his centuries of absence, everyone forgot what style of warfare he favored, not only that, many who had seen him fight before was astounded by all the new philosophies that he incorporated into his new style. Once the rest of the Chinese community saw this play out, it was almost a wake-up call for the several hundred million. Their previous belief that Zheng He, as well as Madam Zheng, were at the top in terms of naval warfare was quickly toppled. And up came a new one, one that held Wu Zi Xu as the top, and miles above the other two.

There were also harsh realizations when it came to the reality that the Chinese community had been shown. This monster that they had in their camp all along was truly their best in terms of naval warfare, so what was the point of fighting over whether Madam Zheng was better than Zheng He. Clearly, they were not able to hold a candle next to Wu Zi Xu. Plus, all of the new contraptions, ships, submarines, and whatever else that Wu Zi Xu had brought out to show the community was an eye-opener.

Everyone knew that there were a few countries that were more advanced than them, but now that they saw the actual gap, they were shocked to their core. The reason being that most of them still held the view that while they were not at the top anymore, they were still quite comfortably one of the strongest communities out there. For the most part, that was true. However, their ranking of third place among all the other communities was decided almost a millennia ago.

A lot can change in just one millennium. Civilizations fall, the weak become the strong, and the mightiest of legends could cease to exist. It was at this point that the spark of adventure was lit among hundreds of thousands of strategists, both new and retired, to feel a certain flutter in their hearts. The longing to better themselves and their way of life.

Unbeknownst to Wu Zi Xu, he almost single-handedly inspired a new generation of those who wished to travel outside their comfort zone and to other communities to experience other types of war, culture, beliefs, philosophies, and advancements. A problem that had plagued Sun Tzu ever since he took the mantle of the Overlord of the Chinese community.