# Chapter 63: Gathering
Su Xiao originally thought that [Ancient Killing Ring] was equipment biased towards melee combat (pian xiang jin zhan xi), such as granting a very powerful strike, but it seemed otherwise.
[Ancient Killing Ring] had two abilities. One was to improve reaction speed, and based on the wearer's agility and charm attributes, it enhanced long-range basic abilities.
As for the charm attribute bonus, Su Xiao chose to ignore it, but the agility bonus was quite good. His current long-range basic skill was Gun Master Lv.5.
The second ability of the Killing Ring was even simpler. Critical hit damage was increased several times. For long-range attacks, the highest proportion came from basic damage plus critical hit damage. A several-fold increase in critical hit damage was absolutely devastating.
The equipment effect was ridiculously strong, but there was a catch. Once Su Xiao was attacked by an enemy, this equipment he bought for 1700 Soul Coins would be destroyed, no questions asked.
When wearing the Killing Ring, a soul power would empower Su Xiao. If an enemy caused even a slight scratch on Su Xiao, it would be enough to break the balance of this soul power. This was one of the reasons the Killing Ring was so fragile.
The enemies Su Xiao faced were all very strong. Even when making ultra-long-range attacks, the risks were considerable.
Su Xiao's plan was this: if he could get an Immortal-rank ultra-long-range firearm, then use Gun Master's ability to enchant the bullets, imbuing them with Cyan Steel Shadow Energy, and wear the Killing Ring, one shot—even if it hit a main tank's head—wouldn't be an instant kill, but it would make them question their life choices and wish they could burrow into the ground.
He put away the Killing Ring. In certain situations, this equipment was incredibly powerful, but if used poorly, it would be a complete waste.
Su Xiao took out items one by one from his storage space. His preparations began. The giant crocodile downstairs had strong survivability, and after prolonged contact with various fungi, its adaptability was unquestionable.
...
Ten hours later, Su Xiao walked out of the vine-covered house. As soon as he stepped out, he had the cursed people seal it shut. Faint, deep (di chen) roars came from inside. Not far from the door, there was a large mound of earth, burying a dead giant crocodile. Only a small section of its pointed tail was exposed, showing black scales on top.
"Has the Duke arrived?"
"He arrived over an hour ago."
Baha flew over and landed on Su Xiao's shoulder. Hearing this, Su Xiao walked through the buildings toward the dense forest ahead, with cursed people following behind him.
A few hours ago, Su Xiao had piloted the Doom Number back to Dim Light Island. After spending 16,250 Demon Sea Gold Coins, he replenished the cursed people to full capacity, which was 800 people.
As for the final seal on the Doom Number, Su Xiao wasn't planning to lift (jie chu) it for now. He always felt it was a huge trap. The combat power gained from the Doom Number was too unstable. The cursed people at their current scale were sufficient.
Entering the dense forest, the Duke was already waiting ahead with his men.
"The few beasts in the center of the island have fled."
The Duke walked over with several hundred elite pirates. Of the three pirate leaders who had been following him, only two remained. The other elite pirates all seemed injured, but their aura fluctuations weren't strong. This was the Duke's method.
Su Xiao wasn't surprised that the Duke said the beasts had fled. Bubu Wang had already detected this situation. The three wild boss monsters that had been entrenched in the central area had fled in the latter half of the previous night, all leaving Eternal Life Island.
These three wild boss monsters had intelligence no less than humans. After sensing something was wrong, they actually gathered together, seemed to discuss things, and decided to retreat. The Demon Sea was vast. Why would they fight to the death with a group of unknown people?
Originally, the plan of everyone on the island was to first clear the outer areas. As for the wild boss monsters entrenched in the central area, the Empress's forces, the Duke's forces, and the Doom Number would take care of two of them, while the last one would be surrounded and attacked by the contractors. This was the suggestion from the Warden. No one knew how this guy had become the representative of the contractor side.
Unfortunately, before the outer areas were even cleared, the three wild boss monsters fled overnight. This wasn't a dungeon raid (gong lue fu ben) where the boss would stupidly wait. The three wild boss monsters saw the situation was bad, "held a meeting," and all ran away.
The one that could fly carried the other two away. Before leaving, it dropped a large pile of excrement in the sky.
Thus, the current situation became that the only remaining threat on the island was the final boss in the central cave. That withered corpse was still sitting by the pool, seemingly unaware of anything happening outside.
After Su Xiao met with the Duke, the Duke took his men back to the Snake Zone, where they would penetrate deep (shen ru) and reach the central area.
The final battle was imminent. Su Xiao led his men through the Swamp Zone and the Spore Forest, and the Ring Basin appeared ahead.
The basin was a large plain. Su Xiao stood on the high ground at the edge. A gentle breeze blew. What met his eyes was a green wilderness, encircled by a circular ring.
"Amu, the Doom Number is in your hands. Be ready to rendezvous in the shallow sea at any time."
"Moo."
Amu turned and walked back. Amu couldn't participate in the upcoming siege because he was slow. If they succeeded and snatched the final boss's treasure chest, Amu would likely die under the bombardment of the contractors.
Walking down the gentle slope, Su Xiao arrived at the Ring River. He reached his hand into the water. A cool sensation appeared. The trace amounts of Primordial Water mixed into the river water were somewhat effective in washing away curses, but the effect was too weak.
Su Xiao had thought about extracting the Primordial Water from here and had even tried it, but unfortunately, once Primordial Water was diluted, it completely merged into (rong ru) the water and couldn't be extracted.
Crossing the Ring River, Su Xiao arrived at the wilderness in the central area. Just then, a signal flare shot into the sky in the distance.
Bang! A huge blood-red mark (ke) appeared.
Several more signal flares went up, with marks like Ke (ke), I (ⅰ), and Zeng (zeng) appearing. The contractors from various Paradise within this world had gathered.
Su Xiao ignored the signal flares in the sky. This wasn't a World War, so firing them had no practical meaning.
Continuing forward, Su Xiao arrived at the foot of the mountain at the very center of the island. This mountain was nearly hollowed out. There were over a dozen tunnels on the surrounding mountain walls, all leading to the internal cave.
Many contractors were sitting on various rocks of the mountain. Linlong·Yalike stood at the mountain peak, his scars even denser.
"Hey, brother, isn't it a bit excessive for you to bring so many people?"
A man with a lazy expression sat on a huge rock. His face was bruised and swollen, clearly having been beaten up not long ago. He was a contractor from Apocalypse Paradise named Carnival.
"Don't look at me like that. I already threw that thing into the Great Whirlpool. Dark Wolf saw it with his own eyes a few days ago. Killing me is useless."
Carnival looked helpless and very punchable.
"Sweet Orange, who are you chatting with? Having fun?"
Baha's voice rang out. Hearing its voice, a figure on the mountain platform turned around. She was short, with short hair. It was Sweet Orange, who had recovered her body. Her cell liquefaction ability was stronger than imagined.
Sweet Orange turned around, looking at Su Xiao and the others with confusion.
"Who are you? Have we met?"
As Sweet Orange spoke, her gaze grew more confused. What puzzled her was that her body started trembling.
"Strange, why am I shaking? Guangmu, am I under some abnormal status?"
Sweet Orange's gaze shifted to Guangmu. She had recently realized she had lost something—memories from a certain period.
"Are you sure you want to know?"
"Of course."
"Simply put, two days ago, you fought them, and then you were caught..."
"Hahaha, what nonsense are you talking about? Is there a hole in my brain? Fighting so many people?"
Sweet Orange looked unconcerned. In reality, this was her body's protection mechanism. After instantly accepting that nightmare-like experience, she nearly broke down, so her subconscious sealed those memories.
"Idiot."
A female voice came. The newcomer wore a sportswear, hands in pockets, with an androgynous beauty.
"Who are you calling an idiot!"
Sweet Orange glared at the newcomer, killing intent surging in her eyes. Her right hand, wearing a black glove, clenched into a fist, cracking.
"Whoever speaks, I call an idiot. Someone actually comes looking to be scolded? Did I step in shit today? Poisonous shit, disgusting."
"You..."
"You what, you flat board."
The androgynous beauty smiled meaningfully. She leaned back slightly, seemingly relaxing, but actually using her natural advantage hidden under the sportswear to taunt someone. The newcomer was named Black Rose.
"You, neither male nor female, old woman."
"Ah~, ah~, well said. Come closer, mommy loves you."
Black Rose still had her hands in her pockets, speaking words that could infuriate someone to death.
"Sweet Orange, give up. If you argue with her, your brain capacity is at most 2KB. Hers is at least 1TB. Not just storage, but processing speed is different too."
Guangmu tried to mediate. Black Rose below shifted her gaze, sizing up Guangmu, about to speak.
"No need to say more. It's all my fault."
"I'm not a mad dog. I just don't like that flat board."
Black Rose looked around. Soon, her gaze met Baha's. She was slightly stunned, as if sensing something.
"Sand Sculpture? What's your name?"
"My name doesn't matter. What's your mother's surname?"
Baha laughed. Black Rose tilted her head slightly, lost in thought.
From start to finish, Yalike, Dark Wolf, the Warden, and others said nothing, just watching. This was truly not their area of expertise.
If Black Rose could only insult people, that would be nothing. But this woman was also very strong, with combat power close to Yalike's. Currently, she was ranked fourth in the Legendary Ranking, only 160 Legendary Points behind Yalike. This was from recent kills. Black Rose was stronger than imagined; she hadn't shown much before.
Black Rose had offended many people on the communication platform. Some formed groups to retaliate, even those in the top fifty, but they all ended up feeding her Legendary Points.
In less than an hour, everyone had gathered. People stood in front of every cave entrance around the mountain.
The Duke's forces, led by the Duke, had 2 pirate leaders and 627 elite pirates. The Empress's side had 5 pirate leaders and 1,075 elite pirates.
Su Xiao's side had 800 cursed people, including elite members like Amangs, Ghost Shadow, Hanging Man, Sea Fury, and others.
The contractor side totaled 219 people. These weren't a unified force. After initial cooperation, they began fighting individually.
No matter how you looked at it, all these forces combined could easily take down the final boss. But would that really be the case?