Chapter 39: Scattered
The competition phase for Space-Time Crystals had ended, leaving only 142 people on their side. The good news was that they no longer had to defend the base camp; the bad news was that after the base camp transformed into its spaceship form and ascended to high altitude, the contractors would lose access to the recovery aura. Once injured, they could only rely on recovery items or healing abilities.
With his equipment bonuses factored in, Su Xiao's Stamina attribute reached 149 points, meaning the recovery effect of Ancient Secret Medicine on him was very low.
Without supplies, the risk of combat increased sharply. Having the base camp's healing aura before had made things manageable.
[Warning: Detection indicates an alien swarm is about to attack. Hunters may choose to hold their ground for three hours, or immediately move away from the base camp.]
[If the Hunter chooses to hold, they can ascend with the base camp and parachute down to a safe zone after 45 minutes.]
……
Su Xiao had no interest in parachuting. The alien army was expected to arrive in about 7 minutes, and this would be a full-scale assault. Over 95% of the aliens within Dapush Fortress would mobilize, including Crimson Tara and the heavy armor units. The intensity of the attack was predictable.
Considering this, Su Xiao quickly walked out of the base camp. His injuries were about 70% recovered; as long as he avoided combat for the next dozen or so hours, he would fully heal.
He wasn't the only one. The Dean and others also exited the base camp. The rewards for holding off this final wave were certainly generous, but one needed to survive to claim them.
Defense was no longer feasible. With only 142 people left, each person had to face more aliens due to the reduced numbers.
Everyone leaving the base camp meant abandoning the defense. Steam jetted from both sides of the base camp as it began transforming into its spaceship form.
Orange-red flames erupted from the engines. With no one choosing to hold, the spaceship lifted off early.
Watching the ascending spaceship, Su Xiao began planning his next move. Dapush Fortress was to the south—a crucial piece of information.
According to Baha's reconnaissance over the past few days, the north side of the Fallen Zone was the sea, not worth exploring. The west side was a dark forest, which had been an orc city when the aliens were dormant deep underground.
The historical changes of the Ten Thousand Beasts Continent were quite interesting. It started with the cold weapon era, followed by the steam era, then the electrical era. When the electrical era arrived, the aliens awakened, nearly destroying both orc and human civilizations.
After surviving that calamity, the era shifted from electrical to a combination of supernatural and cold weapons. Population size limited development; the minimum requirements for technological advancement were stable cities, a large population, and abundant resources.
Stability was out of the question. Aliens were the absolute rulers of this world. Humanity's population advantage was gone. Abundant resources existed, but without the first two factors, no amount of resources could drive technological progress.
After humanity lost its population advantage, the first half-beastman appeared. From then on, humans turned to mysticism—abandoning technology for supernatural power. This was the best means of self-preservation with a small population.
Several generations of half-beastmen had glorious histories, but this brilliance lasted only eight generations before abruptly ending. When the last half-beastman leader died, the alliance between humans and orcs collapsed.
Most orcs gradually declined, eventually submitting to the aliens, used as cannon fodder and sacrifices.
As for the humans of the Ten Thousand Beasts Continent, they never showed up in the Fallen Zone. Either their mysticism had grown so strong that even the aliens were reluctant to provoke them, or they were on the verge of extinction.
Su Xiao leaned toward the former possibility. Otherwise, the aliens wouldn't be so eager to leave this world. It was their supernatural knowledge that humans had mastered, and now humans were becoming increasingly formidable—anyone would be a bit alarmed.
If this reasoning held, the human population in this world should be very small, with only elites surviving through natural selection, and there would be no order.
The alien side wasn't monolithic either. Several commanders disliked each other, and the conflict between Ground Walkers and Fission Beasts had been ongoing for a long time. The Alien King was barely suppressing internal strife.
Of course, on the current Ten Thousand Beasts Continent, aliens were the absolute rulers. Even if humans and orcs united again, the alien army would only need to send half its forces to wipe them out within 10 days.
Su Xiao's plan was to first reach the aliens' rear area and see if he could find this world's human forces there. Since they fought the aliens, they would know more about them.
To obtain the World Core, he would likely have to fight the Alien King. The aliens and this world's humans were mortal enemies. If Su Xiao could find the human forces, he believed they would be very interested in killing the Alien King. He might even be able to recruit a few powerful fighters.
The alien army would charge from the south. Su Xiao planned to head east, travel over ten kilometers, then circle south to bypass Dapush Fortress.
Su Xiao took Bubu Wang, Amu, and Baha and headed east. As for Beini, after recovering her stamina, the cat continued searching for World Sources—or rather, it was looking for the Alien King's location. The World Core was likely with the Alien King.
Beini's search ability was reliable. The cat hadn't found many treasures, but it was very good at locating Space-Time Crystals, World Cores, and the like. It had even infiltrated the fifth underground level of Dapush Fortress, a place so secret. According to Beini, it crawled through the underground drainage system for two days. Other than that, it was fine, but it was a bit wasteful on oxygen tanks.
Not just Su Xiao, but the other contractors on their side also scattered. Most of them were lone wolves. Separating actually increased their combat effectiveness rather than decreasing it. Although they had become "loose sand" again, their goal was unified: to make things difficult for the aliens.
The war channel proved useful at this point. If someone wanted to cause trouble and needed help, they could find it on the war channel. At least cooperation within this world was fine. If they met in other worlds later, different stances would make them enemies. They would greet each other before fighting to the death, showing no mercy.
The alien army was about to attack. Having lost 9 Space-Time Crystals to them, they wouldn't let it go easily.
A few minutes later, the ground trembled. A dark tide of Ground Walker beasts surged forward, only to find an empty grassland and a set of compression marks indicating where the Reincarnation Paradise base camp had once landed.
"They... fled? And scattered?"
Crimson Tasha couldn't believe it. Their formidable enemy had simply abandoned the Fallen Zone. She couldn't understand it at all. Her thought was that there must be some conspiracy.
East of the grassland, over ten kilometers away, Su Xiao was moving through a reed field. White reed flowers drifted in the wind, creating a beautiful scene.
"Moo."
Amu patted its nose as a reed flower floated onto its nostril, tickling it. Bubu Wang was cheerful.
Following the reed field, Su Xiao changed direction from east to south, planning to bypass Dapush Fortress and head toward the continent's central region.
Boom~
A dull explosion sounded from the direction of Dapush Fortress. A mushroom cloud rose into the air, with blinding flames shining through the smoke. This was the madmen saying goodbye to Dapush Fortress.