# Chapter 3: Before All Opponents Are Beaten Down, Whoever Holds the Ball Is a Despicable Little Person
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This sport became popular in a very short time. Why? The reason was that female pig-headed people would prioritize choosing stronger mates when selecting partners. In other words, the winners of the ball-catching competition had at least a 90% or higher chance of finding a wife.
Su Xiao didn't go to the ball-catching venue deeper inside the restaurant to watch the excitement. He was currently tallying the spoils from this hunt. The processing of the spoils was mediocre—the number of female pig-headed people was far from sufficient.
Su Xiao had already discovered that, compared to motivating the ambition of male pig-headed people, the other work performed by female pig-headed people was also indispensable. Logistics was one aspect, but the processing of spoils, the fine selection of Living Ore, and so on, all had to be done by them.
Currently, 500 female pig-headed people were responsible for cooking, washing, and such. The pressure was already considerable. Adding the processing of spoils on top of that, they were already too busy to handle it all.
He could consider buying another batch of female pig-headed people. Regarding the mating issues of the pig-headed people, the fortress's iron laws would not interfere. If any male pig-headed person forcibly dragged a female pig-headed person into a hut, that was not allowed. It would cause chaos in management and discipline. Anyone who disobeyed would have their pig head chopped off on the spot.
The most abundant items piled on the ground were furs. Su Xiao had over a hundred pig-headed laborers pick up the spoils. He himself was holding up a glass tube, inside which was soaked the reproductive organ of a Ridgeback Tiger. This thing was quite valuable.
After contacting Kaisa, Su Xiao took the hunting spoils and left the fortress. He followed the cliff wall southward. After walking less than a kilometer, he headed toward a steep vertical cliff face.
Su Xiao passed through the cliff face. Upon closer inspection, one could see that this was a kind of projection. It wasn't noticeable normally, but when someone passed through it, it became somewhat obvious.
Entering an empty mountain body space, Su Xiao saw a large teleportation array. This thing was quite old. Kaisa had swindled it from somewhere, and now it was finally put to use.
The teleportation array flashed with light, and Kaisa appeared.
"My dear friend, starting trade so soon?"
"Mm."
Su Xiao tossed the glass tube filled with solution toward Kaisa. After catching it, Kaisa quickly discovered the value of this item.
Counting the spoils obtained and today's mining income, the total was 55 units of Living Ore.
High-quality food was temporarily not in short supply. After some haggling, Su Xiao ultimately traded 55 units of Living Ore to buy 1,670 male pig-headed people and 500 female pig-headed people.
After finalizing this transaction, Su Xiao returned to the fortress. These 2,000-plus pig-headed people would be teleported batch by batch to that hidden mountain body space. The pig-headed people stationed there would send those pig-headed people into the fortress, first separating out reserve soldiers and miners. The miners would go directly to work, while the reserve soldiers would stand by.
Under Su Xiao's management, the channels were beginning to take shape. But in his view, the development speed was still insufficient. Once any contractor from Apocalypse Paradise, Holy Light Paradise, or Watchful Paradise found that half of the World Core, the climax of the World War would arrive.
The chaotic battle wouldn't last long. When the chaos stopped and the victor was decided, it might seem like a good opportunity to profit from the conflict. But what if that side was directly declared the winner by the Void Tree?
Su Xiao was not currently the fourth party. In the Void Tree's judgment, he was a contractor on the Apocalypse Paradise side. If the World War ended before he even made a move, that would be ridiculous.
He had to increase the development speed again. Su Xiao had always had a way to develop quickly, but once this method was used, there would be no turning back.
This method was to attack the T3-level and above fortresses of the Vassal Alliance, directly grabbing pig-headed people from inside the fortresses. This would save the process of buying pig-headed people.
Doing this would be equivalent to officially declaring war on the Vassal Alliance. From then on, he could only sustain the war through warfare, with extremely high risks.
Su Xiao returned to the main command room, sat on the sofa, and picked up the map. If he didn't want to face hundreds or even more contractors alone, this was the best way.
He examined the T3-level fortresses on the map. Twenty-five kilometers southwest of the border region, there was a T3-level fortress under mining operations, named "Twin Fortress."
The leaders of Twin Fortress were a pair of twin sisters from the Vassal Alliance. Their appearances looked underage, but their actual ages were over thirty. The twins were notoriously psychologically twisted. They especially liked eating the livers of pig-headed people, and they had to be cooked to medium-well. It was said that this was their secret to maintaining their appearance.
For a T3-level fortress, the number of pig-headed people was estimated to be over 5,000. This was not a small number. No fortress was like Doom Fortress, which had a population exceeding ten thousand even at T5 level.
Just as Su Xiao was preparing the specific plans for the raid, he received an email. It was sent by Beini.
Opening it, he saw a photo of Beini. In the photo, Beini was sitting on the head of a hippopotamus. Nearby were other hippos, and further behind were crocodiles. The crocodiles looked at Beini with unfriendly gazes, but as a friend of the hippos, the crocodiles could only timidly glance a few times.
Compared to this photo, the text information below was more important. The tone was like an elementary school student's essay. The content was as follows:
'This kitty picked a lot of mushrooms with supernatural characteristics. Brought them back. Xia will cook them. These mushrooms look so delicious. Stole a little bite to eat, and then saw lots of Smurfs. Never eating raw mushrooms again, meow~'
'Today cooked the mushrooms and ate them. They tasted better. Then saw lots of little people. Wah! Poisoned again! Never eating mushrooms again (attached with a cat paw print at the end).'
'Today met some crocodiles trying to rob me. I shared the mushrooms with them. After they ate them, they spun really fast in the water (attached, video).'
'Became friends with the hippos. Meow meow meow~'
'Found traces of the half World Core. Continuing to track. Should we obtain the World Core? Those contractors are tracking so slowly. If I didn't have to follow them, I would definitely be in the lead. Should I overtake them?'
...
Beini was also a veteran at participating in World Wars. Because she often activated orphan mode and went treasure hunting alone, her item-finding ability was the strongest in the team.
Compared to her, Su Xiao and Bubu Wang were far behind. In the last world, it was Beini who found the Pure White Blood. Otherwise, Su Xiao wouldn't have been able to fight to the death with the old knight. Instead, he would have mentally beastified due to his sanity reaching zero not long after the battle started.
Su Xiao immediately sent a reply to Beini: Seize it! Take that half of the World Core.
Beini was uncertain about their situation, which was why she hesitated about whether to take the World Core. If she snatched that thing, she would inevitably be targeted by contractors from the other three paradises, resulting in a three-against-one situation.
Su Xiao had already determined that the pig-headed people could be developed as combat power. In this situation, he would first seize the World Core to buy time. As long as their combat power developed, holding that half of the World Core would be an advantage. At worst, they would just fight three at once.
Because Beini was very far away, the email would take 1 to 2 days to reach her. The timing should be fine.
If that was the case, he couldn't act rashly. He had to continue maintaining this false peace with the Vassal Alliance.
Su Xiao checked the contract's status. It was at 99.5%. After waiting a moment, the Contract Parchment materialized. The front side had blurry contract content. He manipulated the parchment to flip it over, using the contract as a medium to track Molei's position.
A map gradually imprinted on the back side. It was a map of this continent. A slightly curved red line appeared on the map.
This red line was Molei's travel route. From the moment the contract was signed, she had started running. But her escape direction was very confusing. Looking at the route, she probably didn't have many connections within the Vassal Alliance's territory.
This was easy to understand. Molei had most likely been hiding in one place with Yueshitu. It would be strange if she had connections within the Vassal Alliance.
In this situation, choosing a strange Vassal Alliance force to seek shelter had a probability of being protected that was far lower than the probability of being betrayed.
Molei took a different path. She didn't stay in the Vassal Alliance's territory anymore. She went to a place that was dangerous for most contractors: the territory of the Aberrant Beasts. Among the Aberrant Beasts, all were equal. Everyone was attacked.
Molei's route was: near the Execution Agency → a fortress city under the Vassal Alliance's rule → a large mining area → the border region → the Aberrant Beast territory.
This was Molei's escape route. There was a very critical problem: Su Xiao was in the border region. At this moment, Molei was heading straight toward him.
This feeling, no matter how you looked at it, seemed like Molei was traveling a thousand miles just to deliver her head.