Unfortunately, Zhang Lie's plan didn't have any effect in the short term, and there were outsiders who viewed all of this as a joke. For example, when Zhou Ying arrived at the Galewind settlement and relayed what Zhang Lie had told her, she was met with considerable disbelief; indeed, there were even a few people who suspected that Zhang Lie was planning something big here and was hoping to get them out of the way before it happened.

These people dug their heels in and refused to leave. They announced that, as fans of Zhang Lie, they wanted to see what was going on, that they would surely only play the role of a bystander.

Of course, most of these people were hoping that they could claim some misplaced loot in the bargain, but they had hardly thought to consider the disparity in...