Chapter 6: Tribes and Insect Race
In an instant, over a thousand contractors split into four groups, charging toward the other side of the grassland. Among them, the Reincarnation Paradise side had the fewest people, probably less than two hundred.
The Death Paradise side wasn’t much better off. The previous battle had been too brutal; in just about half an hour, they had lost more than half their numbers.
Holy Light Paradise still had over two hundred people left. They were the slowest runners, after all, since they had many support-type contractors.
As for Apocalypse Paradise, they still had over six hundred people. These guys ran incredibly fast, even looking like they might overtake Reincarnation Paradise and Death Paradise.
The contractors suddenly split into four streams. The Sacrificial God hesitated for a moment before choosing to chase the largest group, the Apocalypse Paradise side, because among those people was the human who had hit it with a small stone earlier.
A booming sound came from behind the Apocalypse Paradise group. The few people running at the back turned around, and their faces turned deathly pale.
"Why is it chasing us?"
"Split up and run, it—"
Boom!
A cow hoof came down, crushing a contractor into a pulp, instantly killing him and sending him back to the embrace of Mother Earth.
After chasing for a few hundred meters, the Sacrificial God slammed into an invisible wall with a loud thud. Its charge was too fierce, and the impact sent it sitting directly on the ground.
The Sacrificial God was dazed for a moment. It looked up into the sky, where a green fruit appeared. After swallowing the fruit in one gulp, it returned contentedly to the lake.
The contractors of the four paradises were scattered. Five kilometers away, there was a low forest where the trees were a dark green, and strange creatures darted among them.
Su Xiao sat on a gray rock. This was actually a creature that looked like a turtle, very docile.
At this moment, Bubu Wang, Amu, Beini, and Baha had all regrouped with Su Xiao. Su Xiao’s expression wasn’t great. If the previous melee had continued, the Reincarnation Paradise side might have been wiped out there. The Apocalypse Paradise side’s performance was somewhat unexpected; they had advanced and retreated with discipline this time. Although they had the potential to be terrible teammates, it seemed someone was restraining them.
This feeling was very similar to Su Xiao’s first encounter with the Apocalypse Paradise side. Back then, Xi was in charge of managing the many contractors of Apocalypse Paradise. This time, there might also be a strong figure similar to Xi.
As for Death Paradise, no need to mention them. Over 80% of the Reincarnation Paradise side’s casualties came from the hands of their contractors. The representative figure, Yaclo, was very troublesome. If Su Xiao fought him, the outcome would be fifty-fifty.
As for Holy Light Paradise, with that super healer there, nothing else mattered. That healer was on Su Xiao’s must-kill list. He wasn’t sure if they could win the team battle, but that healer had to die.
Su Xiao checked the remaining numbers of the four sides. This was a permission provided by the Void Tree.
Reincarnation Paradise side: 195 people.
Death Paradise side: 142 people.
Holy Light Paradise side: 259 people.
Apocalypse Paradise side: 610 people.
…
Clearly, if the previous battle had continued, it would have been very unfavorable for the Reincarnation Paradise side. However, since Reincarnation Paradise had agreed to set the landing point here, it wouldn’t allow its own side to be wiped out just after arriving in the war world.
Just as Su Xiao was about to close the population list, the number of people on the Apocalypse Paradise side began to drop visibly.
605 people, 598 people, 576 people, 509 people…
In just a few minutes, the number on the Apocalypse Paradise side dropped from 610 to 509. They must have encountered some enemy over there, losing 101 people in such a short time.
Just as Su Xiao was full of doubts, bad news came. The number of people on the Reincarnation Paradise side also began to decrease rapidly.
195 people, 176 people. Finally, the number stopped at 176. This all happened within just a few minutes.
While Su Xiao was paying attention to his own side’s numbers, he also opened the war channel. The war channel was a bit chaotic at the moment.
Cang Ye (Rogue Cultivator): "Don’t go near the east side of the grassland. I’m probably dead for sure. The primitive tribes over here..."
Pang Da Kai (Rogue Cultivator): "The main force was ambushed by a tribe. The enemy numbers are over thirty thousand. They’re good at using poison. Don’t go near the east side of the grassland."
Wu Yan (Symbiosis Alliance member): "Exact time: 10:22 AM. Estimated coordinates 110°49′31.48″. Ambushed by a totem tribe. The enemy is skilled in biological toxins. The totem symbol is oval with a leaf in the center. Everyone leave the grassland from the west side. The south side is a bug nest. Apocalypse Paradise has already stepped on a landmine."
Sha Ta Mu (Symbiosis Alliance member): "Preliminary estimate: The combat strength of this world is at the peak of the fifth rank to the sixth rank. The native forces are very strong."
…
Clearly, the Reincarnation Paradise side had been attacked by native forces. The Apocalypse Paradise side’s rapid casualties earlier were likely due to an attack by the insect race.
"Primitive tribes, insect race..."
Su Xiao lit a cigarette. He didn’t go to rejoin the main force because, in his view, the chances of winning this world war through a direct fight were very low.
The main force had a medium-sized adventure group, with a leader named Twilight. From the outside, he looked like a muscular man covered in scales, but that was actually the external manifestation of some ability. If the rumors were true, the Symbiosis Alliance’s leader was female.
Su Xiao didn’t think he could command the Reincarnation Paradise side’s contractors in battle. Not to mention whether those people would obey him, even if he were pushed to the front, Su Xiao wouldn’t command them to fight. He simply wasn’t good at it.
If they were soldiers, Su Xiao could still command them, but contractors were different from soldiers. Not being good at something wasn’t shameful; pretending to know what you don’t was what made people annoying.
The Symbiosis Alliance’s leader, Twilight, was more skilled at commanding contractors in battle. Therefore, the main force of the Reincarnation Paradise side was led by this woman. Su Xiao had no objection; this was the safest choice.
Earlier, Twilight had sent a message in the team channel. She didn’t advocate for a direct fight. The previous melee had already shown that if they kept pushing head-on, the Reincarnation Paradise side’s contractors would eventually die out, and the three-paradise alliance would only achieve a pyrrhic victory.
Twilight’s opinion was to first find native forces and then find a way to blend in. This was what contractors were best at. After that, they could use the native forces to make up for the gap in numbers between the two sides.
Su Xiao’s idea was similar to Twilight’s, but instead of joining an existing native force, he preferred to create one. In any other world, this would be a pipe dream, but this world had the insect race, and specifically, war insect race.
The insect race in this world could be divided into two categories. One was the insect race with civilization. They lived in groups on large islands and wouldn’t come near the continent where Su Xiao was.
To be more precise, their way of life was very similar to humans, with a complete social system and laws, and even groups similar to royalty.
Those insect races could be ignored. They lived on islands to take refuge because, on the continent, the war insect race and the totem tribes were too strong.
The war insect race had three giant nests. They were three independent forces, while small and medium-sized bug nests were countless. These nests were all built around a mother insect, which controlled the subordinate insect race to expand and evolve into higher life forms.
As for the enemies of the war insect race, they were the five totem tribes. These tribes looked primitive, but their combat power was explosively strong.
Don’t think that the five totem tribes united to resist the war insect race. That wasn’t the case at all. The five totem tribes had conflicts among themselves, but even so, the war insect race still couldn’t do anything to them.
The war insect race’s policy was: whoever provokes me, I fight them. The totem tribes were even more impressive: whoever they didn’t like, or whoever was richer, they would fight and then loot.