Gao Zhengwen returned with no success, rather helpless, with a faint sense of having survived a disaster.
Back when Ren Zhong first followed Yang Bingzhong to Chromium Carbon Town, he was a bottom-tier character not even qualified to interact with Gao Zhengwen.
Later, Ren Zhong replaced Yang Bingzhong and gained the opportunity to stand on equal footing with Gao Zhengwen, the actual controller of Chromium Carbon Town.
At that time, in Gao Zhengwen's eyes, Ren Zhong wasn't even considered a newcomer; he was merely a lucky player who picked up the lifetime accumulation of Yang Bingzhong, the idiot.
Gao Zhengwen even thought, with a rookie opponent, he might be able to expand his power smoothly and complete his domination of the town.
But Ren Zhong quickly emerged within the Purple Crystal Mining system, forcing Gao Zhengwen to swiftly change his mindset and review this strange neighbor who had obviously taken half control of the prosperous Chromium Carbon Town but stubbornly stayed in the impoverished outskirts of Starfire Town.
What happened next was completely beyond Gao Zhengwen's expectations.
Ren Zhong rose rapidly, quickly becoming a formidable character that even looking up to made his neck ache.
Though Ren Zhong seldom dealt directly with Chromium Carbon Mining, their acquaintance amounted to nothing more than nodding terms. Gao Zhengwen had little presence in Ren Zhong's view, yet Gao Zhengwen paid closer attention to Ren Zhong's development than anyone else.
Gao Zhengwen was more aware of Ren Zhong's every move than most people on Source Star and deeply feared him.
The more he looked, the more alarming it became.
Because of this, when the Seven Towns Alliance attempted to besiege Chromium Carbon Town, Gao Zhengwen generously lent out three thousand warriors without directly contacting Ren Zhong.
The reason was simple. From the beginning, he knew Ren Zhong was unlikely to give up Chromium Carbon Town; the likelihood of victory was not small.
The current outcome just confirmed his initial suspicion.
But he didn't expect Ren Zhong to be so audacious, planning not only a full counterattack but also boasting about resolving the conflict in three days.
Gao Zhengwen found this preposterous.
On Source Star, regardless of the town, defense and offense have fundamentally different distinctions.
Defending is generally much easier than attacking.
Especially for the Eight Towns serving as the human wall for Sha County, the difference between attack and defense is even greater than that for ordinary towns.
Unlike Liao Yuan County in a remote area, Sha County is situated in the central region of Huaihai City on the First Continent.
Here, the terrain features more plains, resources are abundant, and transport is highly developed.
Thanks to these innate conditions, Huaihai City's development has always been superior to Yangsheng City.
Population density is greater, industrial chains are more mature, and there are more large enterprises.
Town development in the region is far stronger than in Yangsheng City.
In terms of population quantity and quality, the two regions are simply not on the same level.
But the intriguing situation is that the larger population hasn't pressured the reproduction of Ruined Beasts.
On the contrary, the Ruined Beasts here are more numerous, have a higher average level, and are more active, occasionally launching fierce Beast Tide attacks on densely populated areas.
The frequency of Beast Tide outbreaks in Huaihai City far exceeds that in the northwest region of the First Continent where Yangsheng City is located.
Against this backdrop, the Eight Towns of Zhan Sha and other similar Satellite Towns emerged.
Satellite Towns gathered and bred a large number of savages, naturally giving birth to more Scavengers, with continuous increases in hunting resource output in various areas.
Yet, strangely enough, with more Scavengers active in the field, instead of eliminating Ruined Beasts, those naturally proliferating outside increased in number, so much so that any random hunting and mining area in Chromium Carbon Town now far out-produces the once-world-famous waste mine pit in Starfire Town.
Under such historical circumstances, the savages of the Eight Towns in Zhan Sha are well-tested, with extremely rich combat experience.
This is the background of soft power, but after all, Ren Zhong's East Expedition Army includes many savages from Sha County, presumably allowing Ren Zhong to also reap the population dividend.
But the real problem lies in the hard power of various towns.
Including Chromium Carbon Town, the Eight Towns of Zhan Sha and their prefectures built numerous city defense facilities leveraging abundant tax revenue and subsidies from the county town.
After all, the Eight Towns bear the responsibility of serving as the city walls for the county, and they can't be easily breached by Beast Tides every now and then.
To make the horse run fast, you must feed it grass.
These city defense facilities, originally planned to withstand Beast Tides, have formidable killing power, exceptional stability, and extremely sufficient ammunition reserves.
Just like this battle in Chromium Carbon Town, if the Mayor had handed over control of the city defense facilities, there wouldn't have been such casualties within Starfire Town, and they likely wouldn't have needed reinforcements to hold the town.
The Seven Towns Alliance is not like Ren Zhong, an outsider, as it has operated locally for many years, entrenched and deeply rooted.
Each town's business owners will certainly drag the Mayor into this.
Gao Zhengwen firmly believes this.
In fact, if not for Ren Zhong's presence, if the Eight Towns of Zhan Sha were to form a complete alliance, then Gao Zhengwen should have been the Alliance Hierarch.
In some sense, the Mayor of Chromium Carbon Town also answers to him.
At that time, when he lent out three thousand soldiers while instructing the Mayor to sit back, it was fundamentally placing bets on both sides.
He wouldn't lose either way.
The subsequent events shocked him; he hadn't expected the combat effectiveness of the Starfire Army to be so formidable, its equipment advantage so great, and its mobility so astonishing, that after Ren Zhong executed the Mayor, Gao Zhengwen dared not utter a word.
In summary, past events are past, what's important now is the future.
Gao Zhengwen is certain that Ren Zhong's counterattack will inevitably face genuine city defense forces.
"This battle won't be easy, and I wonder what he's planning exactly."