Chapter 65 No matter how much Xu Lai gives, he certainly won't give as much as I do.

Among professionals, the competition is about levels, equipment, items, and quotas.

As for the major cities, their competition revolves around rankings, resources, and talents.

Although Lincheng and Wancheng were adjacent to each other, one was classified under the Northern Territory while the other belonged to the Eastern Continent. Moreover, with the wilderness lying between the two cities, they practically had no conflicts of interest.

However, this time was different.

The Bone-Buried Dungeon was one of the most difficult Tier 1 abysses, situated right near Wancheng, and was known as the abyss at Wancheng's doorstep.

Yet, due to its extreme difficulty, a vast number of Wancheng professionals failed to clear it and even lost their lives within.

Over time, the overwhelming majority of Wancheng professionals subconsciously avoided this abyss, which imperceptibly caused a massive drain of talent from Wancheng.

The loss of professionals and a severely inadequate supply of talent led to Wancheng's ranking in the Eastern Continent dropping year after year, consequently causing them to miss out on a massive amount of resources.

This year marked the third year of Liang Yi taking office as the Lord of Wancheng. Just like previous years, Wancheng still hadn't produced any promising young talents.

This gave him a tremendous headache.

He had a premonition that if Wancheng continued down this path, not only would the city be finished, but his own political career would be ruined as well.

Especially after hearing the news that neighboring Lincheng had produced a class-transferred individual who received an SSS-rank rating, his heart grew even more depressed.

Why did promising talents never seem to fall to Wancheng?

However, soon enough, he discovered that things were not as bad as he had imagined.

Who would have thought that Lincheng not only failed to value this SSS-rank class-transferred individual, but instead joined forces with the Li family to suppress him?

What should a farm boy whose parents died early do when jointly suppressed by the city lord and the noble families?

Other than swallowing his pride and submitting, he had no other choice.

After sorting through the course of events, Liang Yi believed this was an opportunity.

Since he was a class-transferred individual with an SSS-rank rating and Lincheng didn't want him, fine, Wancheng would take him.

However, shortly after, Gu Qingfeng appeared in Lincheng and revealed Gu Chen's ancestry, which made Liang Yi involuntarily heave a silent sigh.

Gu Qingfeng's son, even if not a native of Lincheng, was still from Gubei City; there was simply no way his turn would ever come.

He had already thought of giving up, but upon learning that Gu Chen had been forced into the wilderness by the Li family, a glimmer of hope ignited in his heart once more.

Gu Qingfeng's son could be forced into the wilderness by a mere Li family?

Impossible.

The only explanation was that Gu Chen did not acknowledge his identity as a member of the Gu family, which was why he never once invoked Gu Qingfeng's name from beginning to end.

That being the case, matters became much simpler.

Since Gu Chen was being suppressed in Lincheng and did not recognize his ties to the Gu family, then the people of Wancheng welcomed him with open arms.

Immediately following that, the news of Gu Chen clearing the Nightmare-grade Bone-Buried Dungeon was made public.

This directly solidified the decision of Liang Yi, who had still been hesitating.

He was going to poach this talent.

After all, Gu Chen was a class-transferred individual with an SSS-rank rating who had also broken the clearance record for the Tier 1 Bone-Buried Dungeon. Such a genius might not appear even once in several decades.

To let him be exiled in the wilderness just like that would be far too much of a waste.

Merely based on the talent and combat prowess Gu Chen had displayed, he was worthy of being treated with utmost courtesy by a city lord himself.

"City Lord, the three sets of rewards have been prepared."

The voice of his secretary, Li Feng, accompanied by a knock on the door, reached Liang Yi's ears.

"In addition, I found out that Gu Chen has just advanced to Level 16. Summoners generally gain a new summon slot when reaching Level 15. Having just emerged from the abyss, he probably hasn't had the time to contract a new summon beast yet."

"Therefore, I applied for a Level 15 summon skill book from the Wancheng Treasury. It's also one of the very few rare-grade summon books in Wancheng."

"Only rare-grade?"

"There's no help for it. A small place like ours in Wancheng simply doesn't produce summoners. If you want an epic-grade summon book, you can only purchase it from some central cities. Not to mention the exorbitant price, there's simply not enough time."

Liang Yi rose from his seat and nodded. "Alright, let's go with that for now; at worst, we can compensate him later."

Li Feng wiped the sweat from his forehead. "City Lord, what if Gu Chen is unwilling to come to Wancheng?"

Liang Yi cast a sideways glance. "We're going to poach him! Poach him! Understand? Whether he's willing is his business, what the hell does that have to do with me?"

"Furthermore, since Gu Chen was able to kill Li Renjie, it shows he is not the type to swallow insults and bear a burden quietly. Do you think someone like that would continue to stay in Lincheng?"

"What if Xu Lai apologizes to him and offers even more resources as compensation?"

"That possibility isn't ruled out. If Xu Lai gives enough, maybe Gu Chen could really swallow his pride, but now with our Wancheng intervening, Gu Chen will absolutely never choose to reconcile with Lincheng."

"Because, no matter how much Xu Lai offers, he certainly won't give as much as I do."

Liang Yi got up from his desk and strode toward the teleportation hall.

Li Feng, holding two treasure chests and two gift boxes in his arms, immediately followed behind him.

The treasure chests and gift boxes could easily be stored in his portable spatial inventory, but he didn't do that.

Politeness costs nothing, after all.

At this moment, the abyss plaza was packed with people.

The historical record of the Nightmare-grade abyss had been broken; such a sight was extremely rare, and the professionals who could witness this scene firsthand felt a sense of shared honor.

As a wave of dizziness subsided, Gu Chen and the others were teleported onto the abyss plaza.

The surrounding crowd instantly erupted into a clamor.

"Look, Gu Chen is out!"

"That's Gu Chen? I heard he's a class-transferred individual. I wonder if he has a girlfriend?"

"Save it. Even if he doesn't, it's not going to be your turn. Is he supposed to be after your advanced age or your low level?"

"To be able to break the historical record of a Nightmare-grade abyss at such a young age—I'm so envious, so envious my balls are turning purple!"

"Gu Chen is from Lincheng, and he broke the historical record. Is there really no one here from the Lincheng Municipal Administration?"

"Come for what? Gu Chen's recommended admission quota still hasn't been issued yet. Do the people from the Lincheng Municipal Administration even have the face to show up?"

"Quick look, aren't those people from the Municipal Administration? I didn't expect them to arrive so fast!"

"After all, he's a genius who refreshed a Nightmare-grade abyss. It looks like the Lincheng Municipal Administration is getting desperate too."

On the teleportation array of the abyss plaza, accompanied by the flashing of blinding lights, several men in tailored suits stepped out from the formation.

The leading figure wore a dark gray jacket and stood tall and straight. Beneath his thick, heavy eyebrows was a pair of sharp eyes scanning the surroundings.

"Holy shit, isn't that Liang Yi? The Lord of Wancheng!"

"Stop joking around, Gu Chen is from Lincheng, why would Liang Yi—holy shit! It really is Liang Yi!"

"Liang Yi is currently Level 50 and the highest-level professional in Wancheng. What is he doing here?"

"What else could he be doing? Look at those attendants behind him carrying treasure chests and gift boxes—he's obviously poaching talent!"

"Poaching talent? Gu Chen is the son of the Northern Territory War King. In Gubei City, he's practically the crown prince. How could he possibly go to Wancheng?"

"You must not know the details then. Word has already spread outside that Gu Chen severed ties with the Northern Territory War King long ago."

"No wonder! He was hunted down by the Li family for so long, and rather than invoking the Northern Territory War King's name, he preferred to flee into the wilderness and enter the abyss. Turns out there's some juicy gossip behind this!"

"Just watch, I estimate Gu Chen will soon become one of us in Wancheng. When that happens, all professionals in Wancheng will benefit from it."

"Huh? Is that so? Gu Chen joining Wancheng is his own business, what does that have to do with us?"