Jiang Sisi finished speaking in one breath, draining the fruit wine in her cup. While Liu Chengfeng was deep in thought, she glanced at Master Fran.
Even though the two of them had said so much, Master Fran, the Dwarf, had paid no attention, only silently lowering his head and gorging himself.
Jiang Sisi smiled, gaining some new insights into the Dwarf.
"But Miss Jiang, don't you find it strange? Besides humans, we haven't seen any other race emerge from the Starting Forest to this day. Although Obsidian Town's geographical location is decent, it's just a small town and holds no significant value for the various races, yet they maintain control over it."
Seeing that Liu Chengfeng was still pondering, Old Zhou was the first to pose the question.
"Elder, even a small mosquito is still meat; there's nothing strange about that."
"No, girl, you haven't been in town long, so you don't know. They don't actually care about Obsidian Town. I also work in intelligence. Obsidian Town has been breached by beast tides several times, and the various races haven't sought help from their kin in High Heaven City. Yet, none of them responded, letting this place fend for itself."
"Then you mean…"
"They are suppressing the human race."
Liu Chengfeng raised his head again; he seemed to have sorted something out.
"Although I don't know the reason, in the past year, more and more humans have come to this world, especially your group."
"Quantitative change will eventually lead to qualitative change, but the premise is not to be suppressed."
"As you can see, Obsidian Town is the first stop for humans arriving in the Zero Realm. Here, we need more say."
"Only then can the human race develop faster, and only then will we have the opportunity and confidence to establish ourselves in this strange world."
"Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, we can even extend our chopsticks into the plates to the southeast."
As Liu Chengfeng spoke, he once again extended his chopsticks towards the steamed sword-tailed fish in the southeast corner of the table.
His gaze was sharp as he picked up two large pieces of fish, placing them separately into Jiang Sisi's and Master Fran's bowls.
Jiang Sisi fell silent. She hadn't expected Liu Chengfeng's ambition to extend beyond Obsidian Town, even reaching High Heaven City. This ambition alone was enough for her to re-evaluate him.
Master Fran looked at the fish in his bowl, sighed, and wiped his mouth and beard.
"You two, can't you talk about this behind my back? I've listened so much and eaten so much. If I don't smash a few of your heads today, will I not be able to leave through this door?"
"Master Fran, you're overstating it. How could we dare?"
"Hall Leader Liu, I'll ask you one thing: you want more say, but the higher-ups won't let the human race become the masters of Obsidian Town. What's your plan?"
As Master Fran spoke, surprise flashed across Old Zhou's and Jiang Sisi's eyes, then they looked at Liu Chengfeng with a hint of understanding.
"Master Fran, as you said, we only want more say, not to become the masters of Obsidian Town."
"After merging with Cross Street tomorrow, Unyielding Hall will unite with the various races to form the Obsidian Alliance."
"The Alliance will assist the Town Lord's Mansion in carrying out various tasks throughout the town, including administration, commerce, military, and resource allocation."
"The Alliance's highest body will be the Presidium. The Presidium will establish three positions: Ordinary Member, Honorary Member, and Leader."
"Ordinary Members will consist of the clan leaders and faction leaders of various races above Eight Star; Honorary Members will consist of the Town Lord and Nine Star Awakeneds in town; the Leader will be the strongest Awakened among the Presidium members, subject to challenge by other members at any time. All positions, once established, will be updated and iterated every two years."
"The Alliance will act in unity against external threats and hold a Presidium meeting every half month. Major town affairs will be decided by vote among the Presidium members."
"Ordinary Members will have one vote, Honorary Members will have two votes, and the Leader will have three votes…"
"The Alliance will also establish a Trade Hall in the town's central plaza, supervised by Alliance guards to promote fair trade…"
Listening to Liu Chengfeng list several points, Master Fran was too stunned to speak, while Jiang Sisi's eyes lit up.
In fact, they all understood that Liu Chengfeng was merely creating a pretext. Once the Alliance was established, Liu Chengfeng and Chen Bugu alone would have five votes in the Alliance meetings.
"Wait, Hall Leader Liu, does Brother Bu Gu know about this?"
Master Fran interrupted Liu Chengfeng from continuing.
"Chen Bugu is one of us from Unyielding Hall. I think my stance can represent him."
"This… Even so, the establishment of the Alliance will affect the Town Lord's Mansion to some extent. Shouldn't we invite the Town Lord here to discuss this?"
Master Fran looked at Miss Jiang. He didn't believe this woman could make decisions for the Town Lord.
Seeing this, Liu Chengfeng took out a black feather from his ring, the very one from the gift Miss Jiang had brought.
Master Fran then suddenly understood.
"So Hall Leader Liu has already communicated with the Town Lord. Then, what are the opinions of the other races?"
"The current leader of the Magic Lizard Clan is Tie Che. His mind is considered flexible even among the entire Magic Lizard Clan, so there's no need to worry about him not understanding the situation. As for the Naga, it doesn't matter if they truly don't want to join, but if they are shortsighted, then that's even better."
"We have a Chinese idiom called 'killing the chicken to scare the monkey.' I believe the Naga will be happy to learn."
Master Fran looked at Liu Chengfeng, who was speaking eloquently before him, and almost forgot that this was the madman who had beheaded ninety-seven foreign races a year ago.
At this moment, Master Fran felt fortunate that the Dwarf had never provoked Liu Chengfeng.
"Oh, and once the Trade Hall in the town's central plaza is established, I believe the equipment produced by the Dwarf will also fetch a good price, and you won't have to worry about it flowing into the black market and being sold cheaply."
"And as the first race to respond and join the alliance, the Dwarf will have their stall fees waived for two years. What do you think?"
Liu Chengfeng understood the principle of giving a stick and then a carrot.
"Alright, since you've said this much, I have no objections. Anyway, we Dwarfs have never cared about these things."
Master Fran was quite straightforward, giving his answer on the spot.
In fact, the establishment of the alliance would have the least impact on the Dwarf, as the Dwarf relied on their craftsmanship to establish themselves.
Aside from his relationship with Chen Bugu, this was also the reason Liu Chengfeng first sought to win over the Dwarf.
"Alright, thank you, Hall Leader Liu, for your hospitality today. I've eaten my fill, so I'll head back now. Miss Jiang, please eat more."
Old Zhou politely tried to persuade him to stay for a few moments, but Master Fran was resolute, so Old Zhou reluctantly saw him to the door.
When Old Zhou returned, he found that everyone had already stopped eating and had moved from the side hall back to the main hall.
Jiang Sisi sat in the front of the hall, holding a cup of hot tea. The steaming hot air rose, and she blew on it, then looked at Liu Chengfeng and asked,
"Hall Leader Liu, do you think Master Fran…"
"Did he intentionally let it slip?"
