Chapter 15: You Are Shameless!
The current scene was only to be expected. Those who could own or lease a T5-level fortress were mostly local powers or had connections within the three major factions.
The six fortress leaders who had been looted tracked down the Doom Fortress by following the trail of the pig-headed men. They immediately came knocking.
Faced with scavengers, the fortress leaders were timid—those were desperadoes who didn't play by the rules. But when dealing with peers, they decided to strike hard.
"Look, that's the ramming vehicle, and the scavenger on top of it..."
A vassal wearing small round sunglasses shouted, but stopped mid-sentence when he noticed that Su Xiao and his group weren't dressed like scavengers.
Several scavenger corpses were thrown off the vehicle by Amu, along with a mutated canine creature. Among the five scavenger bodies were two human males, one human female, and two pig-headed men.
As a large racial group, some pig-headed men were free individuals, but their options were limited. The threshold to become hunters was too high, so becoming scavengers was their best choice.
These scavengers weren't specifically sought out by Su Xiao. Along the way, he had encountered at least twenty or more scavenger squads, more than the rodents he saw by the roadside.
So-called scavengers included humans, vassals, pig-headed men, highly intelligent mutated beasts, and members of all intelligent races on the continent.
Initially, scavengers explored everywhere, collecting valuables from ruins—essentially picking through trash. But as their numbers grew too large, there wasn't enough trash to pick, and the group gradually turned into raiders, expanding at an alarming rate.
"Open your eyes wide—it was them who robbed you, not me!"
Li Xiniwei sprayed spittle at the six fortress leaders. He was trembling with anger, as if suffering a great injustice. In terms of acting, Li Xiniwei was impeccable.
Xiniwei's external stance was simple: these pig-headed men were all bought by him. He admitted they were bought cheaply, but they were still purchased—from a group of scavengers.
Using this as an excuse, Xiniwei pulled off his shady move. He brought the six fortress leaders, including Ao Niya and the others, to the top floor of the fortress, where he negotiated with them in the main control room.
Xiniwei's claim was that when he bought these pig-headed men earlier, he indeed sensed something was wrong, so he secretly sent people to track that scavenger group and took the opportunity to eliminate them.
His idea was that by getting rid of these scavengers and retrieving the active ore used to buy the six batches of pig-headed men, the problem would be solved. The issue was that although the scavengers who had raided the six fortresses were eliminated, no active ore was found at their hideout.
Xiniwei's implication was that he was also a victim. If he could get back the 4,065 kilograms of active ore he had paid, he would immediately and unconditionally return this batch of pig-headed men to the six fortress leaders.
Hearing this, Ao Niya and the others' expressions improved somewhat, but before long, Ao Niya was furious.
Xiniwei's meaning was that since he had paid a large amount of active ore, this was a business deal. He could return the pig-headed men, but the six fortress leaders would need to raise 4,065 kilograms of active ore for a refund.
Ao Niya immediately sensed Xiniwei's shamelessness and was so angry she nearly slammed the table. Xiniwei, however, acted indifferent—after all, he was also a "victim" in this matter. Neither the Vassal Alliance, the Lighthouse, nor the Aurora Council had any rule against buying pig-headed men from scavengers.
The unsolvable part of the whole affair was that none of the six fortress leaders had died. This meant their small factions had been attacked but not destroyed. Whether the fortress leaders lived or died divided the incident into two different concepts.
If they didn't die, it was just an attack. Reporting this to the "Tribunal" would indeed get their attention, but due to the Tribunal's heavy caseload, such matters would be pushed far back. In essence, it meant: bring benefits, or wait a year or two for processing.
To satisfy those in the Tribunal, the cost would be at least one-fifth of the losses from the raid. Worse still, even if the Tribunal handled it, the most they'd do is declare those scavengers guilty and order a few squads of vassal soldiers to arrest them.
The problem was that there were too many scavengers. Without a reincarnated Sherlock Holmes or a possessed Conan among those few squads of vassal soldiers, catching the real culprits was nearly impossible. More likely, they'd just find some random scavengers to take the blame.
Even worse, if the real culprits were caught, the fortress leaders' lost property would be held by the Tribunal for 6 to 10 months before being returned. If the files were accidentally lost or the evidence storage caught fire, there was no recourse.
The Tribunal's evidence storage caught fire over a dozen times each year. Their explanation was that it stored stolen goods, dangerous chemicals, and high-intensity weapons—of course it was prone to fire.
In summary, when a fortress was raided, as long as the leader didn't die, there was no point going to the Tribunal.
The six fortress leaders were in this situation. They had been reaping huge profits from exploiting pig-headed men, and now it was suddenly gone. They naturally wouldn't let it go.
Xiniwei wasn't denying responsibility. He could return the pig-headed men, but the six fortress leaders had to come up with 4,065 kilograms of active ore.
Hearing this, the six fortress leaders nearly died of rage. Except for Ao Niya, who had maintained some dignity when meeting Su Xiao, the other five fortress leaders were terrified by Su Xiao's earlier ruthless methods.
Back then, to save their lives, those five fortress leaders were almost ready to strip off their underwear and shake it to prove they didn't have a single grain of active ore left.
For them to produce 4,065 kilograms of active ore on the spot was absolutely impossible.
"Everyone, I'm in a tough spot too. Why don't you all go back first? Once you've raised the active ore, I'll return this batch of pig-headed men..."
Xiniwei pushed up his frameless glasses on the bridge of his nose, his tone sincere. His implication was that he didn't dare sell this batch of pig-headed men externally.
On this point, all six fortress leaders believed him. In this situation, selling the pig-headed men externally would immediately provoke the Tribunal to intervene and clean Xiniwei out until he was bankrupt.
If used for mining, the excessive number of pig-headed men would not only waste a lot of food but also overcrowd the fortress. Sooner or later, it would attract the attention of large scavenger groups.
Under these combined circumstances, the six fortress leaders chose to leave first and prepare active ore to cut their losses.
As soon as the six fortress leaders left, Su Xiao emerged from a hidden door in the main command room.
"Bai Ye, this matter is temporarily suppressed. They won't let it go. Once they bring the active ore, we'll have to hand over this batch of pig-headed men. Then we can use the active ore we get to buy pig-headed men from the fortress city market. The quantity will be smaller, but there's no other way. If the Tribunal gets involved, it'll be very bad for us."
"..."
Su Xiao didn't speak. He had no intention of giving up this large batch of pig-headed men—it was the foundation for development.
"Baha."
"Here."
"You and Bubu Wang go keep an eye on those six fortress leaders. When they gather the active ore, make your move."
Su Xiao's meaning was simple: since the six fortress leaders couldn't be easily touched, they wouldn't be allowed to gather enough active ore. Bubu Wang would intercept them—whatever they collected, Bubu Wang would steal.
That way, the six fortress leaders wouldn't be able to buy back this batch of pig-headed men.
Su Xiao leaned back on the sofa and checked the current data of the Doom Fortress.
Name: Doom Fortress (Living Entity).
Level: T5 (Fortress levels range from T0 to T5).
Total Population: 4,581 (4,561 pig-headed men, 20 vassals).
Ordinary Pig-Headed Men: 4,561.
Active Energy Reserve: 14,781 points (can be converted to 14,781 kilograms of active ore).
Premium Food: 391 units (1 unit can feed 100 pig-headed men for 1 day).
Fresh Water: 46 units (can be obtained from nearby water sources via filtration devices).
...
The fortress had taken initial shape, but for Su Xiao, the number of pig-headed men was still insufficient—only 4,561, and that wasn't even the count of combat personnel.
There was plenty to do. First, he needed to obtain [Mutation Solution Type V], which was essential for upgrading the fortress from T5 to T4.
After the upgrade, the fortress would grow in size, providing more internal space. Correspondingly, living quarters and other facilities would need to be built inside.
Apart from these two points, the number of pig-headed men also needed to be expanded. Additionally, he could consider buying a batch of female pig-headed men, as the warrior selection phase was about to begin.
To accomplish all this, he had to visit a fortress city. There were three fortress cities in total, each controlled by one of the three major vassal factions. After weighing his options, Su Xiao decided to head to the neutral fortress city of the "Watchtower" and set off immediately.