# Chapter 18: Ruthless
Large amounts of shattered ice fell from above. When Su Xiao dug the ice cave, he deliberately made two right-angle turns to prevent the broken ice from falling directly into the seawater. The broken ice below would be pressed into the sea by the weight of the ice above.
The explosions and ice collapse sounds from above soon stopped, and no broken ice fell on Su Xiao's head, proving his arrangement was successful.
After taking several deep breaths of oxygen, Su Xiao thrust his body downward, plunging entirely into the seawater.
As soon as he submerged, water pressure surrounded him. He wasn't sure how deep he could dive. The bone-chilling seawater was eroding the heat from his body.
Descending, continuously descending. To speed up his descent, Su Xiao had tied many iron objects to himself.
A grill rack, white-quality weapons, a fist-sized hammer, and so on. Eventually, Su Xiao didn't even need to actively dive; the weight on his body made him sink automatically.
He had brought over twenty bottles of compressed oxygen, each lasting about an hour and a half. These were sold at specialized stalls in Reincarnation Paradise, and most contractors would buy some for emergencies.
Breathing compressed oxygen didn't feel good, but he had no other choice now.
Rather than being trapped forever in the "Parasite" derivative world, Su Xiao preferred to take risks.
He couldn't resist the world's rejection. Once the war was lost, he might not survive more than ten days in the Parasite world.
The ice layers and accumulated snow above blocked the sunlight. The seawater was pitch black, and a feeling of loneliness set in.
Breaking through the ice to enter the sea wasn't easy, and getting out would be even harder. Once started, there was no turning back. Either Su Xiao would die in the sea, or the mission would fail—but he had no other choice.
[Notification: Second world coordinate successfully established. Hunter, please establish the third world coordinate.]
Su Xiao checked the contractors' situation through the screen. Over a hundred contractors were standing or sitting in that cave, all injured, most with limb damage.
Su Xiao saw Adam sitting with his head down in the cave, a corpse lying before him. The corpse was named Lie, the vice leader of the Brotherhood.
What concerned Su Xiao most were the few people communicating with Divine King. These people didn't look like contractors; they wore protective suits and were negotiating something with the contractors.
"We will send reinforcements soon. The medical unit has already been dispatched. The Human Alliance will not abandon any human."
The representatives of the Human Alliance had a good attitude, but when Divine King mentioned possible conflict with the Kalans later, the Human Alliance's answers became official.
'We will handle this matter properly. Rest assured.'
They neither promised aid nor explicitly refused. They were waiting and watching, adopting a cautious attitude toward the contractors of unknown origin.
Providing assistance was acceptable, but participating in war was pending.
Su Xiao slowly sank in the seawater, took out the third world coordinate, hesitated for a second, and chose to activate it.
[World coordinate generating...]
Spatial fluctuations spread around him as the world coordinate gradually formed, while Su Xiao slowly sank, descending into the unknown deep sea.
...
The contractors in the cave immediately received notifications from Reincarnation Paradise, ordering them to stand near the second world coordinate.
With two world coordinates already formed, Reincarnation Paradise could now interfere with the Parasite world to a certain extent.
The battered contractors gathered near the second world coordinate. Their vision blurred, and they found themselves on an ice field, directly above Su Xiao's position.
Howling cold winds blew past.
"So cold~."
A bare-chested contractor shivered and quickly took out winter clothes from his storage space.
"What is... this?"
Several representatives of the Human Alliance were stunned. They had been in the cave moments ago, and now they appeared on an ice field in the blink of an eye.
The Human Alliance representatives immediately became alert, contacting their headquarters, their attitude no longer as friendly as before.
Divine King was completely bewildered. Where was he? What was he supposed to do? Where was the world coordinate?
Not only Divine King was confused; Flash Silver and Adam were also completely baffled.
"If the world coordinate is set here, we're dead."
Adam's voice was hoarse as he was supported by his subordinates. His broken leg and arm had made him disabled; only returning to Reincarnation Paradise could restore him.
The mission Reincarnation Paradise gave the contractors was to guard the world coordinate, but the coordinate was moving. Every ten minutes, the contractors received notifications of the world coordinate's location change.
This left many contractors utterly confused. The mission was not only dangerous but also completely without direction.
The Human Alliance members contacted their headquarters, and their expressions became unnatural. They realized they were on the edge of the Asian continent, and could be attacked by the Kalans at any time.
"Dear resistance fighters, we suggest evacuating immediately. According to satellite imagery, the main Kalana forces are on their way and are expected to arrive at this ice field in a few hours. 'Good luck to all of you.'"
The phrase "good luck" was emphasized. The Human Alliance representatives turned and left.
"These guys... it seems our people's negotiations with the Human Alliance didn't go well."
Divine King sighed, his tone full of helplessness. He had never experienced a derivative world like this—receiving only one mission, with enemies constantly attacking.
Su Xiao was different. He had already anticipated this. He knew more than Divine King; he had predicted earlier that he might not stay in the Parasite world for five days.
And that was exactly the case. Su Xiao's stay in the Parasite world lasted 36 hours.
As soon as the first coordinate was successfully defended, he immediately set up the second.
The reason for doing this was to give the Kalans no time to react.
Five days minus 36 hours left about four and a half days. What kind of force could be developed in four and a half days? The Kalans had already been on Earth for twenty years. Four and a half days versus twenty years was incomparable.
Su Xiao simply chose not to develop any strength and directly caught the Kalans off guard.
Judging from the situation with the first two coordinates, Su Xiao's choice was correct. The Kalans simply didn't have time to send large forces.
However, with the buffer of the first two world coordinates, the Kalans had reacted.
The third world coordinate was their last chance. If the third coordinate was successfully established, they could only drift in space forever, their timeline reset repeatedly, their life and death in the hands of Reincarnation Paradise.
It was easy to imagine that the Kalans would launch a frenzied offensive to destroy the third world coordinate. They were currently gathering their main forces. The target was the ice field between the two continents, with an estimated arrival time of five hours.
During these five hours, the contractors couldn't rest. Parasites had appeared on the ice field at some point.
These parasites weren't numerous, but they came continuously. The Kalans no longer had the energy to control these parasites and simply released them all.
On the ice field.
Many contractors were locked in battle with the parasites, fighting while retreating. They had no fixed defensive point.
The scatterbrained Flash Silver was carrying Gold Ghost across the ice surface at a run. Only a third of Gold Ghost's body remained; without life support equipment, he would have died.
"Where are we going?"
Gold Ghost was drowsy. To still be conscious with such injuries showed how strong his constitution was.
"I'm going... to escape the battlefield!"
Flash Silver ran quickly toward the edge of the battlefield, ignoring Reincarnation Paradise's repeated warnings. She hadn't seen any Arbiters appear for a long time—at least sixteen hours.