"Your meaning is… you…"

Seeing the look on Grayfist's face, Black Blade raised an eyebrow and said,

"What, you don't want to be managed?"

Seeing Black Blade's expression, Grayfist froze for a moment. Black Blade's meaning was already obvious, he was telling Grayfist to stay.

Grayfist had already caught on, but he really hadn't expected that Black Blade would actually let him stay.

Thinking of that, Grayfist looked at Black Blade in confusion and asked, "You're not afraid that something like today will happen again…?"

To Black Blade, Grayfist's reaction right now was honestly a bit too cute.

Before coming here, Black Blade had indeed prepared two plans.

One plan was to "convince" Grayfist, and the other plan was also to "convince" Grayfist.

But the "convince" in these two plans wasn't the same.

The first plan's "convince" meant actually persuading, using conversation to get Grayfist to willingly join Xu Yuan's faction.

But clearly, that first plan had failed, since Grayfist had always been the kind of person who wouldn't cry until he saw the coffin, and wouldn't turn back until he hit the wall.

So, the second "convince" plan was to use resource and troop transfers to force Grayfist into convincing himself.

Black Blade and Steve had long since plotted everything out. Before Steve left, he had already instructed his subordinates on the next steps.

He told them to keep hiding, first to lower Grayfist's subordinates' suspicions, then to gradually gain access to the warehouse.

Once Steve's subordinates got warehouse access, everything else would be easy.

After that, all they had to do was wait for Black Blade's arrival.

Once Black Blade appeared inside the base, he didn't even need to communicate much with Steve's players, they'd know exactly what to do.

Grayfist's subordinates had never been particularly alert, and with Black Blade showing up, most of them had gone off to watch the excitement.

Steve's subordinates just needed to take advantage of the distraction to hide the warehouse supplies and then find somewhere to lay low and wait for things to unfold.

Black Blade had, of course, considered the possibility that Grayfist might be driven to desperation and go down fighting, so he made preparations in advance. While Grayfist was outside scouting, Black Blade had already started acting.

He first broke through the wooden boards on the north side of the room to create the illusion that he'd left that way.

Then, he quickly dug out a tunnel beneath the room that led directly to the plaza of the base.

The method wasn't particularly clever, but for a furious and irrational Grayfist, it was more than enough.

After finishing everything, Black Blade hid quietly in the room and began observing through the crack of the door.

He kept a close eye on Grayfist's reactions, if he sensed that Grayfist was about to lose it and fight to the death, he would immediately use the tunnel to escape.

It wasn't that Black Blade couldn't beat Grayfist; he just didn't plan to solve the problem through violence.

His plan would avoid a direct confrontation and buy him more time and opportunities.

And besides, Black Blade knew very well that as long as he broke free from Grayfist's area of control and appeared before Steve's players, they would gather around him without hesitation.

Once they regrouped, Black Blade wouldn't have them risk clashing with Grayfist's people.

After all, the number of Steve's players wasn't that different from Grayfist's.

Even without the supplies, Grayfist's people still had their own equipment, meaning they still had the ability to fight back.

Facing that kind of situation, Black Blade knew he couldn't take things lightly.

So after reuniting with Steve's subordinates, he would immediately signal for reinforcements from the Rainforest faction.

Everything had been part of Black Blade's plan, and his players were already fully prepared.

They hadn't followed him into Grayfist's base or its outer watch zones, instead, they stayed outside, observing silently, waiting for the right time.

The moment Black Blade stepped into Grayfist's base, the watch area outside had already fallen under his players' control.

Once they saw Black Blade's signal flare, they would act instantly, surrounding Grayfist's entire base tightly.

With such a lopsided power imbalance, Grayfist's chances of making a desperate last stand would drop sharply.

Everything Black Blade could foresee, everything he could do, he had already done to the limit.

Two plans, plus contingency measures for extreme situations, it was all complete.

If even under those circumstances Grayfist still wanted to fight to the death, then Black Blade really would have no choice but to use force to suppress him.

So for Black Blade, using force to kick Grayfist out of the Trial Grounds was the worst possible outcome.

Obviously, everything that had just happened hadn't even required the backup plan.

Grayfist had already figured things out on his own, and Black Blade could be sure he no longer had any rebellious intent.

So there was no reason to force him to leave the Trial Grounds anymore.

That's exactly why Black Blade found Grayfist so amusing right now, the guy had already been completely played from top to bottom, and he was still asking whether Black Blade wasn't afraid he might rebel again.

Black Blade had already seen through him entirely, why would he worry about rebellion?

At this moment, seeing the "naive" look on Grayfist's face, Black Blade teased with a grin, "Oh? You haven't even joined yet, and you're already worrying for me?"

Hearing that, Grayfist rolled his eyes helplessly, but his tiny expression betrayed him.

That corner of his mouth that just wouldn't stay down clearly gave away what he was really feeling inside.

"Who's worrying for you?"

"I'm just afraid some people might judge others by their own petty hearts. I can't do that kind of scheming against my own people!"

Grayfist had meant to snap back at Black Blade, but somehow his words ended up giving Black Blade an opening.

Those three words, "my own people", were enough to show that Grayfist no longer saw himself as an outsider.

Naturally, Black Blade caught onto those words instantly, ready to tease him again, but this time Grayfist reacted quickly.

Before Black Blade could even open his mouth, Grayfist awkwardly coughed twice and hurried to change the topic.

"Cough, cough…"

"Speaking of which, where did Steve's people even hide?! This tiny place and they vanished like thin air!"

As he spoke, Grayfist avoided Black Blade's gaze and went on,

"Have Steve's people come out, and also, where did you stash those supplies?"

"With that much stuff, moving it all out quietly wouldn't be that easy, right?"

"My guys may be useless, but they're not blind, you know?..."

"Don't tell me you dug tunnels ahead of time?"

Hearing Grayfist's question, Black Blade shrugged and shook his head.

"Don't ask me, that wasn't my project."

Black Blade hadn't coordinated directly with Steve's players, so he didn't actually know how they'd moved the supplies.

He didn't think it was anything particularly complicated either, his people could handle that on their own without him micromanaging.

Hearing the two talk, one of Steve's players stepped forward and explained, "Uh… the supplies were actually in the warehouse the whole time."

Hearing that, one of Grayfist's players who had checked the supplies earlier immediately jumped up in disbelief.

"No way! I checked that place over and over! The warehouse was empty! Where'd you get supplies from?!"

Steve's player rubbed his forehead in exasperation, looking at him and saying, "Have you ever considered… that this game lets you dig underground?"

Then he continued, "Chests have weight limits, we couldn't move them far, and we couldn't avoid everyone's eyes either."

"The fastest and safest method was just to bury them underground."

Hearing that, Grayfist's players all went blank.

They really hadn't thought of that possibility when they checked.

Honestly, they were just like their boss. Grayfist got outsmarted by Steve, and his players couldn't escape the same fate, they got outsmarted by Steve's players too.

Listening to the chatter around him, Grayfist couldn't help but sigh deeply in his heart.

'So this… this is what a gap looks like!'

Grayfist understood very well, if his players were ever going to handle things on their own, they needed to learn to think independently.

But up to now, his belief had always been that as long as his players followed orders and executed tasks, that was enough, everything else didn't matter.

Reality had just given him a loud slap in the face.

He knew his team and Steve's team weren't that different in strength.

In fact, they were pretty evenly matched, in past sparring matches between the two sides, the win rate was about fifty-fifty.

So raw strength wasn't the deciding factor, the real gap lay in independent thinking.

Grayfist's players were used to waiting for his commands, rarely thinking for themselves.

Steve's players, on the other hand, were different.

While Steve was around, they might not voice opinions much, but once he wasn't there, they'd actively think and come up with solutions.

In truth, Grayfist's players had the same issue he did.

As the saying goes, "Two different kinds of people can't come from the same bed", or well, maybe not that way.

Grayfist's players really did inherit his way of doing things.

That situation wasn't surprising at all, if even one of his subordinates had a more meticulous mind, Grayfist's position as boss might not have been so secure.

Thinking of this, Grayfist looked at Black Blade, hesitated to find the right words, then finally said, "If there's ever another kind of… operation like this, take me with you…"

Then he looked at his own players and added, "And take them along too…"

Grayfist knew he wasn't good at scheming, but it was no longer about whether he should change, he had to.

He might be straightforward, but he wasn't stupid. In fact, he was quite smart.

After all, he was great at PVP, and as the saying goes, "Good PVP players have dirty minds." (Or… maybe not exactly like that.)

He just hadn't focused his mind in that direction before, and no one had guided him either.

Now he was aware of his shortcomings, and he knew he had to fix them.

Before, he'd been lucky, he hadn't run into anyone scheming against him.

But luck wouldn't last forever, so he had to improve his strategic thinking.

And Black Blade, as Xu Yuan's student, was definitely a master strategist.

Following him, Grayfist was sure he'd learn something.

And his players needed the training too.

Hearing Grayfist say all that, Black Blade actually felt quite pleased.

After all, Grayfist hadn't fallen into despair after a failure. Instead, he quickly adjusted his mindset and took the initiative to make up for his weaknesses.

That kind of attitude was rare. Grayfist had simply not been enlightened before, now that he was, his growth would be terrifyingly fast.

Though Black Blade was happy about Grayfist's change, he couldn't help himself, whenever he faced Grayfist, he just couldn't stay serious.

Seeing Grayfist so earnest right now, sincerely asking for his help, Black Blade naturally wasn't going to miss the chance to tease him again.